


Power Rangers: Dino Charge ~Cataclysm~

by TheJediAvenger



Category: Power Rangers, Power Rangers Dino Charge, Star Wars - All Media Types
Genre: Gen, Other Additional Tags to Be Added
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-03-17
Updated: 2017-06-14
Packaged: 2018-09-20 15:01:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 54,029
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9497204
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheJediAvenger/pseuds/TheJediAvenger
Summary: What happens when someone who is powerful in the Force discovers the Power Rangers and the power they posses? As they struggle to find their place on Earth, they will help the Rangers in their fight against Sledge, a powerful alien that wants to possess the Rangers' power, the Energems, in order to take control of the entire universe.





	1. Preface

Here, I will tell you the rundown of this crossover novelization.  First off, I hope this story will be enjoyed by you reading it!

This story will take the episodes of Power Rangers: Dino Charge (and maybe Dino Super Charge) and cross it over with Star Wars characters and elements. Pretty cool, right? I'm hope that my writing skills are good enough to finally do a project this big.  

 

The Layout

The first two episodes of Power Rangers: Dino Charge are canon but are NOT included in this novelization, since the Star Wars elements and character don't come into the story until midway through the third episode.

Along with the Power Rangers episodes that aired, there will also be original episodic chapters, FOR THE SAKE OF CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT AND STORY ELEMENTS! YAY! In the future, there may be possible cameos from original Star Wars characters! (I can't confirm or deny it lol)

 

A "Plot" Synopsis

What happens when someone who is powerful in the Force discovers the Power Rangers and the power they posses? As they struggle to find their place on Earth, they will help the Rangers in their fight against Sledge, a powerful alien that wants to possess the Rangers' power, the Energems, in order to take control of the entire universe.

 

What I Plan on Doing

I want to dive deeper into the characters in Dino Charge. I felt like there were bits and pieces that we never got to see in the show. An example would be Sir Ivan's story of how he was a knight and what type of life he lived before meeting the others. THAT is what I want to write about in a way of how I think it happened.

 

Why am I torturing myself by writing this?

Mainly because this is one of my favorite seasons of Power Rangers. In a way, this story is more for me. However, I'm hoping other people will love it as well. Plus, Star Wars is life. I love Star Wars and my mind just has to cross it over into other universes.

IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS, COMMENTS OR SUGGESTIONS, HIT WITH UP WITH A PM OR REVIEW! I'll be more than happy to answer them! I enjoy talking about the fandoms I'm in.

Well, I think that covers it. Time to start the longest journey I have ever created.

FEEL FREE TO ASK ANY QUESTIONS OR LEAVE COMMENTS AND YOU KNOW THE REST!

~TheJediAvenger~


	2. A Fool's Hour

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Since the first two episodes of Dino Charge are canon for this story, I have decided to skip writing them, for now at least. Here is the third episode where both the Power Rangers and Star Wars elements collide. ENJOY!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey a new chapter for a crossover nobody cares about! Sorry, college, work and Breath of the Wild were all killing my free time from writing this.  
> This is an original chapter for this novelization. So it probably isn't very good but I wanted it added all the same. Again, this story is more for me but if you enjoy it, hey! That's cool too!

Today would be the day that she would do it. She had it all planned out and was certain that nothing would stop her this time. This world was not her own. From the moment she got here, she felt out of place. Odd. Alone. She could not take it anymore. Today was the day she would leave it all behind. She had walked nonstop until she reached the right spot in the forest. Yes. It should be far from prying eyes. She had everything ready, including the letter. She grabbed the last important piece and pointed it towards her.  
She hesitated.  
She had heard something far off. She could also sense several strong connections. Five of them. Two of them she had felt before but now there were three new ones. This made her rethink the world for a brief moment. Two of them she thought was odd but the universal always had exceptions. But now there were three more. There was no way it was a coincidence and the abnormality yet familiarity of them stopped the act she was about to commit.  
There was still a sense of selflessness within her. She had to hold this off for now. She had to find out what these five sources of power were and what was being done with them. She put the piece she had pointed at herself back on her belt and ran off in the direction of the five strong sources of power.  
Within less than a minute she reached the edge of the forest, which opened into a grassy field. She stopped from taking another step and stood behind a tree. Roughly one hundred yards in front of her were five teenagers. She could sense that they were ones with the five sources of power. Across from them, on the other side of the field, were many copy-cat minions, which followed behind three larger alien creatures that clearly had more authority over them. However, she noticed the one that was several shades of pink was talking. She concluded that alien was leading everyone...for now.  
She wanted to know what type of power the five teenagers held and she wanted to hold it for herself. Just for one moment, she wanted to connect with it and feel if it was the thing she had felt before. But she would wait for the best opportunity to get it, whether if that meant "borrowing" it for a bit or asking them in advance to hold it. If she had a fast choice between the two, she would take the former route. But for now, she would watch and see what both sides of these groups would do to each other from the sidelines of the forest.

* * *

"Allow me to introduce the magnificent intergalactic bounty hunter in the universe." Poisandra cheerfully shouted towards the five teenagers.  
From the sky, an alien on a jetpack quickly landed. The gust of wind from his landing blew past the rangers as they realized their problems just got a lot worse.  
"The one, the only, my future husband, Sledge."  
Sledge couldn't help but chuckle at the pathetic sight before him. "This is a joke, right? You're the Rangers who destroyed my monster?"  
"Power Rangers." Shelby bluntly corrected. The girl had an attitude that was too cute and nonlethal to the aliens' lives. All of the monsters laughed at the weightless threat.  
"Oh, please." Poisandra brushed it off.  
"Yeah, right. Are you kidding me?" Sledge sneered rhetorically.  
It was then that Koda's instincts picked up on a scent. A scent that he loathed deeply. "Fury," he got Tyler's attention while keeping his gaze on Fury. "Up there."  
Tyler looked up a steep incline to see Fury appear out of the foliage. "That's him! The creature in my dad's journal." He kept watching him as Fury made gestures Sledge.  
Fury was the only way Tyler knew of in which he could find out what happened to his dad. However, anger began to rise from deep within him. He wanted to get even with Fury. He was certain that he had something to do with keeping his father from him for years. He had hope that he was still alive. It was just a matter of finding out the answers from the Fury, the last thing his dad wrote about in his journal.  
"Hmm, as I was saying," Sledge's gravelly voice caused Tyler to snap his gaze from Fury and towards Sledge again. "You're the troublemakers that stole my Energems."  
Suddenly, Keeper magically appeared in front of the Rangers. He had something vital to tell Sledge, before he went down the path Keeper believed he would ultimately take. He had to still give Sledge a chance to change his mind.  
"Keeper, it's you!" Sledge mocked at his convenient appearance. He would let him speak his peace before he would slowly take his life.  
"The Energems belong to no one, especially not to you."  
Sledge grinned devilishly under his helmet. "My dear old friend, you thought that blowing up my ship could stop me? Think again. I waited in deep space for millions of years for a comet to pass. I caught it with my electro-nets and rode it all the way to Earth. But it was worth it because finally I will destroy you, and then I'll leave here with the Energems."  
"The Rangers possess the power of the Energems and the strength of ancient dinosaurs. If you try to take the Energems, you will be the one who is destroyed." Keeper had said enough and he had faith in the Rangers. After giving Sledge his one and only warning, he turned around and walked towards the Rangers until he magically dissipated in front of them.  
"Uh...Keeper?" Riley hoped he would reappear after calling his name but he did not.  
"No prob." Shelby weakly claimed, "We got this, I guess."  
"Looks like they're gonna cry." Wrench readjusted his grip on his axe.  
Sledge banged his clenched fists together, "Bring it on, weaklings!"  
Chase took the lead. "Dino Charger!" He glanced over to see everyone was holding their chargers. Everyone was...except Tyler. Tyler's gaze had went back to Fury again.  
"Tyler." Chase said again but to no avail.  
"Tyler? Something wrong?" Koda asked.  
"Tyler!" Shelby snapped.  
Shelby's voice was enough to break his focus off of Fury and see that the others had pulled out their Dino Chargers. He quickly took his out of his back pocket and held it in front of him.  
"Ready!"  
That was Sledge's cue. He quickly fired off several shots from his blaster gun. The shots missed the Rangers by inches yet they don't flinch.  
"Ready!" The other four teenagers said in unison.  
Sledge fired several more shots. Some of them struck the ground in front of the Rangers, causing both dirt and smoke to fly into the air, obscuring Sledge's view. He fired yet again. This time, a few shots flew straight into the cloud of smoke. There was no way he missed them that time.  
"Whoo-hoo! Yay! You destroyed them!" Poisandra cheered.  
As the cloud of smoke rose into the sky, the Rangers ran towards Sledge and the others. And they were fully morphed into their Ranger uniforms. Black, Blue, Red, Pink and Green Rangers.  
"Better get your eyes checked!" Tyler shouted back at Poisandra. "Let's do this."  
"Yikes. This isn't any fun." Poisandra ran behind Sledge as Sledge's minions ran towards the Rangers.  
Chase stood in place and took out his Dino Morpher to blast several Vivix. "One, two." The third he shot behind him without looking."Three." Chase fired more true shots. "The hotshot does it again." However, he failed to see Scrapper, one of Sledge's outlaws, run up towards him.  
"I'll take you apart!"  
"I would like to see you try!" Chase managed to block several of his attack, but he couldn't keep up. Scrapper backhanded Chase, causing him to fly back several feet and fall to the ground. The sudden devastating hit was enough to make him demorph out of his Black Ranger uniform.  
Koda, being the caveman that he was, took on the minions around him with his fists and brute strength. "This no problem for caveman strength.", he ran up to a Vivix , grabbed it then swung him into several other minions, causing them all to fall to the ground. Unfortunately, before he saw him coming, Koda was struck from behind by Scrapper.  
"Caveman strength is nothing against me." Scrapper quickly threw an uppercut at Koda which sent him flying. He landed hard on his back and caused him to demorph from being the Blue Ranger.  
Shelby did not have any sense of fighting or even defense in this type of situation but she was full of confidence as she ran towards Wrench. She was going to give it her all. "Let's see how you like the power of the triceratops!", she attempted to land a hit on Wrench.  
Wrench blocked every attack she made towards him then swiped the flat side of his axe against Shelby. She collapsed to the ground and demorphed from her Pink Ranger form.  
Out of all of the Rangers there, Riley had a slight advantage with his Dino Saber. Since he had practiced on his own at his family's ranch, he knew how to wield it fairly well. He wasted no time in dealing blows to several Vivix, one after another. "Have a piece of this!", he slashed one with easy then immediately turned to strike another. "And a slice for you!", he killed another on in a single stirke.  
Besides Sledge and Fury, Wrench was the best warrior among all the other aliens there. He ran up to Riley and blocked two of his Saber slashes before backhanding him, sending Riley rolling several yards away, demorphed from being the Green Ranger.  
Tyler front flipped and landed right in front of Sledge. He did not want to waste any time in wanting to defeating him. The sooner Sledge was dealt with him, the sooner he could run after Fury. Even though he was in his Red Ranger form, the putrid stench of Sledge managed to seep through Tyler's helmet and into his nostrils.  
"Ugh, ever heard of deodorant?", he grimaced behind his helmet.  
"The only thing I smell is your defeat!" Sledge focused his energy into a single punch that landed directly in the center of Tyler's chest. Tyler stumbled backgrounds onto the ground and was demorphed from his Red Ranger form.  
Chase and Shelby ran over and helped Tyler to his feet, while Koda and Riley watched in case Sledge and his goons tried for another attack while their friend was down.  
Sledge took a moment to catch his breath. He hadn't had a real fight in millions of years. His body did not appreciate him suddenly getting very active. "I'm getting too old for this."  
"Oh, no!" Poisandra rushed over and kept Sledge from falling to the ground.  
"Master Sledge!" Wrench stated in worry.  
Sledge's anger wove itself into his voice as his strength slowly came back to him. "One last warning, Rangers. Hand over the Energems in an hour, or I'll blast this planet to pieces."  
"One hour!" He pointed towards the pathetic group of freshly beaten teenagers as he started up his jetpack. One of his wings did not deploy. Sledge banged on it to get it to finally pop up and took off into the blue sky. His cohorts followed by disappearing into a murky cloud, vanishing from sight.  
"One hour. How long is that?" Koda asked.  
"Not long.", Shelby answered. "How do we stop him?"  
"We need to come up with a plan to beat him together." Riley figured.  
Tyler once more had his gaze on Fury. He watched as Fury left the edge of the hill and trudged into the woods. Something felt off about it.  
"Something's going on. I'm gonna follow him."  
As Tyler walked off, Shelby grabbed his arm.  
"Tyler, I know you want answers about your dad, but--"  
"It's not about my dad." Tyler innocently cut her off. "Fury was signaling him. I've got a hunch--"  
It was Chase's turn to convince Tyler that wasn't the best idea. "Forget your hunch, mate. We're a team now. We have to work together or we don't stand a chance."  
"We don't always have to be together to work together. Don't worry, I'll see you guys back at the base."  
"Tyler-" Shelby started to walk after him but Chase held her back.  
"Wait. Just let him go. We're just gonna have to solve this without him, eh?"  
They silently agreed and ran off towards the base.  
"Fools." Little did the teenagers know that Scrapper had been keeping an eye on them the whole time. He grinned to no one in particular as he secretly followed behind the teenagers. They would lead him to the answer that Sledge wanted.

* * *

Tyler quickly and quietly followed several yards behind Fury. He moved from tree to tree so that if Fury were to turn around unexpectedly, he would be able to hide from his sight.  
As Tyler was midway from moving between cover, Fury suddenly halted in place.  
"Wait a second." Fury sniffed the air. "What is that stench?"  
Tyler quickly dived behind a large rock off to his right and hoped that Fury would not walk his way. He wanted answers from Fury, but he knew that fighting Fury head-on alone would only result in him getting seriously hurt or killed.  
"Smells almost...human." Fury turned around and walked over to the rock, glaring at it. He didn't believe there was actually anyone behind the boulder. But if there was they would soon be sliced cleanly in two just like the rock. He pulled back his right arm and was prepared to swing.  
"Fury!"  
"Huh?" Fury turned to see Sledge and Wrench.  
"Come on! Get over here!" Sledge barked.  
Tyler slowly let out the breath he had been holding and listened intently to their conversation. He knew they would give him a clue as to their true plan. Plus, he didn't dare move from his spot while they were still around.  
"Master Sledge, is your plan on schedule?" Fury walked over to Sledge as he lowered his sword to his side.  
"So far, the Rangers took the bait and are leading Scrapper right to their base. Once he tells me the location, we'll scorch the place. And finally, the Energems will be mine!"  
All three of them leave the area to await Scrapper's call to them. No use waiting around in a boring forest when they can wait in the comforts of the ship.  
"They're gonna destroy our base...and everyone in it." Tyler wasted no time in pulling out his Dino Com to call the others.  
"Kendall."  
No answer.  
"Kendall?"  
Still no response. He looked at his Com and saw the screen had been shattered.  
"I've got to warn them." Tyler scrambled to his feet and ran faster than he had in a long time. He had to reach the base before the others led Scrapper right to it.  
Little did Tyler know that he was being followed as well. She had not followed him on the ground but in the trees above. She didn't want to be seen but wanted to see both Tyler and the alien he had been following. She stood on a large branch of a tree as she tried to figure out the logic of the situation.  
"I'm not sure if he is courageous or simply not thinking through his actions." She carefully climbed down from the tree and followed in pursuit of Tyler. "I better follow him and make sure he doesn't get himself killed." As she ran, she felt conflicted about her choice. One side of her did not want to get involved in this. The other side kept her running in the direction Tyler had gone.  
The power he has. That all five of them have. I've felt it before. I have to know more. But, I won't interfere unless I absolutely have to. I can't get involved in anything. With anyone ever again. I just want this one answer and then I'm done. If I'm lucky enough, I may be able to borrow it for a bit and just give it back. I'm probably mistaking it for something else anyways.

* * *

"Come on, guys, hurry!" Chase urged Riley, Shelby and Koda to run faster if they could down the many sidewalks through the city. They had to get back to the base as fast as they could. They had no idea however that they had picked up a tail.  
"Yeah, that's right. Lead me to your base, Rangers." Scrapper mumbled to himself. He would soon have the information he needed.  
The four of them run behind the museum and up to the loading dock. They activated the secret entrance and one by one they start sliding down into the underground base.  
"Ah, yes. That must be the entrance to their secret base. Sledge is gonna set me free." Scrapper kept watching each of them slide down into the base. Better to wait until they were all in the base so that they wouldn't see him watching them from behind some shipping crates.  
Tyler had run nonstop back to the base. His adrenaline rush gave him the energy to keep going longer than his normal stamina allowed him, and he managed to get to the loading dock of the museum just in time to see that Chase going down the slide.  
"Chase!" He didn't hear Tyler as he slid down into the base.  
Scrapper turned and grinned menacingly at Tyler. "Too late, Red Ranger. Secret's out. Oh, I can't wait to get back and tell Sledge the news.", he saw a blue truck leaving the museum parking lot and took action. He transformed himself into a metal claw and latched himself onto the back of the truck.  
Tyler was not letting him get away that easily. "Not if I can help it."  
Tyler's red jeep had been parked behind the museum. He jumped into the driver's seat, turned the key in the switch and sped off in the direction he saw the blue truck go. He didn't know that someone was in the back, lying down on the floor. She knew that Tyler would be driving this vehicle in order to catch up to Scrapper, so they snuck into it without him noticing. Now was not the right time to "borrow" his power source. She would let him deal with his enemy first. Then, she would act.

* * *

Scrapper approached his destination. He let go of the blue truck and transformed back into his normal form. He threw several boxes to the side and pulled the tarp off of the space pod. It was his only means of getting back to Sledge's ship and telling him where the Rangers' base was.  
"I hope this bucket of bolts makes it back to the ship."  
Scrapper got in and began to pilot the ship off the ground. As he was steering the ship to fly upwards, Tyler drove his jeep around the corner and hit the pod. This caused the pod to malfunction and sent Scrapper flying from it and tumbling to the pavement.  
Tyler put the jeep in park and leapt out of it, prepared as well as he could be to fight Scrapper by himself.  
"You'll pay for that! Vivix, rise!" Scrapper's order was heard. Several Vivix rose from the ground and materialize into their physical forms. "Get him!"  
Tyler pulled as his Dino Charger. "Dino Charger, ready!" He sprinted towards the Vivix and front flipped into the air.  
"Energize!" Tyler transformed mid-jump into the Red Ranger. He then began to take out the Vivix one by one.

* * *

Once she thought it would be alright, the stranger slowly sat up on the floor of the jeep and looked between the seats. She watched Tyler, in his Red Ranger form, take out the Vivix soldiers. She felt the power he possessed and how it flowed through him, instead of being concentrated like she had felt earlier.  
I could just take it without him noticing but that would leave him defenseless. I'll have to wait until he gets out of that-what did he and his friends call it, power ranger armor he is in. I just hope...it has to be him or one of his friends. It just has to. I'll know once I can clearly connect with it. It's the last chance I'm giving myself.

* * *

"Think you can take me on? No way!" With his Dino Saber in hand Tyler took a Dino Charger from his belt and placed it into his saber.  
T-Rex charger, engage! The saber had accepted the Charger and fed its power into the blade.  
"Dino Saber! Power slash!" The blade glowed red as Tyler swung it in the direction of the Vivix. The energy flew from the blade and collided into every single one of them. They exploded into a fireball that left nothing of them behind.  
"You're next." Tyler warned Scrapper.  
"I'll turn you to scrap." Scrapper bolted towards Tyler.  
Tyler decided to meet him in battle. The sooner that Scrapper was stopped, the sooner the base would be safe. "Think again, dumpster breath!" He switched from his Saber to his Morpher, placing another one of his Chargers into the Morpher.  
"Energize! Dino Morpher Blast!" He pulled the trigger, sending the high-powered charge towards Scrapper. He was a goner for sure.  
"Surprise!" Wrench suddenly appeared in front of Scrapper and grabbed the shot with his bare hand before throwing it off to the side. "Ow, ow, ow!" He shook his hand hoping the pain from catching the shot would soon fade. "Oh, man, that stings!"  
"Huh?" Tyler was perplexed. Wrench was fast enough to catch his shot and strong enough to deflect it without causing major injury to himself. "You should've stuck with your friends. You've messed up everything!"  
"I'm just getting started!"  
The Red Ranger and Wrench throw several punches and kicks to each other. So far, all of them had been deflected or blocked.  
"You're pretty tough." Tyler commented rhetorically.  
"Yeah. Tougher than you! Which isn't hard." Wrench pulled out his axe. This delay would not last another minute.  
Wrench quickly landed two strikes on the Red Ranger before kicking him in the chest. The Ranger flew backwards, hit a chain-linked fence and bounced back into Wrench who hit him again with his axe. Tyler couldn't hold his Ranger form anymore and demorphed as he hit the pavement.  
"I was almost to the ship! You're gonna regret getting in my way, Red Ranger!" Scrapper shouted in anger.  
Wrench's grip on his axe tightens. "Say goodbye!"  
Tyler tried to get back up on his feet but those blows from Wrench sent a dull pain through his body with every attempt he made to get up.  
Is this it? That's all he could think as Wrench and Scrapper ran towards him with full intentions of finishing him. But they stopped several yards before they reached him.  
"What?!" Scrapper yelled in utter confusion.  
Tyler felt himself getting off of the ground. But he wasn't doing it on his own accord. Someone had gripped his left arm and wrapped their arm behind his back, lifting him slowly to his feet. Once he was standing on his own they let go of him.  
Tyler thought it was one of his friends but was shocked to see that it was someone he had never seen in his life. The first thing he noticed was her shoulder-length hair. It was two colors: light blonde and black. The colors ran vertical and switched between the two colors. The second thing he took note of was her eyes. They were pale blue with a hint of grey. The shade of her eyes was lighter than her attire, the third thing he perceived. Underneath her unbuttoned, dark blue denim jacket, she was wearing a plain white long-sleeved shirt. Her denim jeans matched the shade of blue the jacket was and went all the way down to cover most of her dark brown boots. The belt she wore appeared to had been through some wear and tear. On either side of her, connected to her belt, were two cylindrical pieces of metal with what appeared to be tiny dials and a single button on each.  
Those things on her belt. I've seen those somewhere before. But where... Tyler thought silently. His mind was trying to process through just her alone, let alone why she had suddenly appeared out of seemingly nowhere.  
"Wait a minute."  
The stranger and Tyler looked to see that Wrench had lowered his axe at his side and Scrapper stood near him looking confused.  
"You." Wrench pointed towards the stranger. "I know who you are."  
"Do you now?" She calmly answered back.  
"Yeah. I can tell with those sabers on your belt. You must be one of those legendary Jedi that we have heard so much about. It's about time we found one of them. Sledge will be pleased when we bring you back to the ship." Wrench was enjoying mocking her but he was not enjoying that she had no negative reaction to it. He did notice, however, that the demorphed Red Ranger looked as if he had finally put two and two together.  
"Wait. Jedi?" It made sense to Tyler but it wasn't possible. "Those aren't real. They're fictional."  
"Well, to be honest, I'm not exactly a Jedi," she smirked. "And before you ask, no. I'm most definitely not a Sith either."  
"It doesn't matter to me! I'll destroy both you and the Red Ranger!" Scrapper was through with just standing around. He ran towards both of them intent on killing them.  
Wrench did not object but knew Scrapper was not going to land a single hit on either one. He stood in place and watched the scene unfold before him. The more he studied the Jedi's movements, the easier she would be to capture and bring to Sledge.  
She sighed. Somehow she started her day off with wanting it all to end but now she was standing between Tyler and the aliens that wanted him dead, so they could take his power for their own malicious intent. She could not allow it to happen. Her personal experience showed her the results of abused power. It was one of the few things that she had zero tolerance for. It gave her motivation when she had lost all of it already. She would fight until the rest of Tyler's team got there. Then, she would decide her next move.  
"Stay here and wait for your team."  
"But-"  
"Stay, please." She grabbed the hilt on her left side and gripped it tight in her right hand. She turned it on, igniting the crystal blue lightsaber and rushing forward to swing at Scrapper. He threw up his arm and blocked it. She let out a shallow gasp. She thought her lightsaber would have sliced through his arm. But he was made of a metal that could withstand a lightsaber for a short amount of time.  
"Hey! That blade is hot." Scrapper hissed.  
"Hot enough that it will eventually slice through you." She had no remorse towards Scrapper as she continued to attack him sporadically.  
Her attack pattern confused Scrapper. Some of her random attacks landed while others would just be extra moves to trick him to change up his fighting style, which was brute strength and telegraphed punches. He was not used to her form of sword fighting. He howled at the top of his lungs as he threw a punch. That was a huge mistake. She grabbed hold of his wrist with both hands and jerked him towards her. She then focused her energy into her kick at Scrapper's torso, sending him flying past Wrench and through the chain linked fence that separated the forest from the parking lot.  
"Whoa." Tyler exhaled. He knew that she definitely was not ordinary. He now had more questions about her than before. But those would have to wait until this battle was over.  
"Impressive." Wrench didn't move towards her.  
"Your move," she raised her lightsaber up, the blade diagonally in front of her.  
"Ladies first," he insisted.  
With Scrapper out of the picture, she wasted no time in rushing towards Wrench and swinging her lightsaber at him. Wrench went on the defensive. He wouldn't make a move to attack until she exposed a clean shot of herself. He had heard many stories of Jedi being highly skilled sword wielders that should never be underestimated. For now he would block with his axe while deciphering her fighting style.  
"Tyler!" Chase called out to him as he and the others ran up to him.  
"Are you okay?" Shelby worriedly asked.  
"Yeah. I think so. She jumped in before I got seriously hurt." Tyler pointed toward the stranger who was still consistently attacking Wrench.  
"Is...is that a lightsaber?!" Riley couldn't believe what he was seeing. That wasn't possible. Then again, he used to believe that aliens didn't exist until a few days ago.  
"What lightsaber?" Koda was confused at the new word.  
"It's that blue stick of light she's swinging." Chase was perplexed. Lightsabers were fictional but there was one that the girl was using several yards away from them.  
"Wait...isn't that from a movie?" Shelby asked, hoping for some answers.  
"It's from several movies." Tyler kept watching the stranger fight Wrench. So far, both of them had canceled each other out in their attacks and defenses. "But she said she wasn't a Jedi or a Sith."  
"You're lucky she was here to help you, mate. You could've been killed. That's why you don't follow hunches." Chase was glad that Tyler had been helped by the girl with the lightsaber, but he was still somewhat upset that Tyler had went off on his own.  
"You're right, but so was my hunch. Sledge wasn't going to give us one hour. That crusher creep followed you guys back to the base. He was heading off to tell Sledge where it is so they can steal the Energems. That's their real plan."  
"So if you hadn't followed Fury..." Shelby started.  
"Sledge would be making his way into our base right now, destroying everything and everyone." Riley finished.  
The stranger gave Wrench a kick to his upper torso, causing him to stumble backwards. Then, from behind the broken chain-linked fence Scrapper appeared, more pissed off than he had been before.  
"Ugh, you wrecked my hubcaps."  
The stranger looked back to see the rest of Tyler's team had arrived. She deactivated her lightsaber and jogged over to them.  
"I am confused. Is hunch bad or good?" Koda asked.  
"Right now, it's good." Chase settled it.  
All of them brought their focus to the stranger. She gestured towards Wrench and Scrapper.  
"I believe all of you should finish this together."  
"You're not going to help?" Riley asked in confusion.  
"I held both of them off from Tyler for a solid minute. Besides, I shouldn't have gotten involved as much as I should have."  
"Will you stay here until we finish this? You know, in case we need your help again." Tyler hoped that she would. There were so many questions that he and the others had on their minds about her.  
She nodded. "I'll stay."  
Tyler mentally sighed in relief. Good. Now all we have to do is finish dealing with Wrench and Scrapper. "Let's do this... Together."  
"Together, with a little help from Kendall. She's developed a new armor mode for us." Chase handed Tyler a new Dino Charger. "It's called Dino Steel."  
Scrapper hustled over to Wrench. "Come on! Let's get out of here! I still gotta tell Sledge where their base is!"  
"Don't count on it." Tyler corrected. The others stood beside another, while the stranger stood slightly behind them. "It's Morphin Time! Dino Charger!"  
"Ready! Energize! Ha! Unleash the power!" Everyone transformed into the Ranger form.  
"Power Rangers..." Tyler started.  
"Dino Charge!" Everyone finished.  
"Okay, guys. Let's check out our new armor mode." Tyler placed his new Dino Charger into his Morpher and activated it.  
T-Rex charger. ENGAGE! His Morpher recognized the Charger.  
"Dino Steel!" Tyler shouted.  
"Armor on!" Every ranger had an arm guard for their right arms and also a unique new weapon. They now had more of an advantage then Wrench and Scrapper.  
"It's about to get wild!" Tyler knew that this fight would end in their favor.  
Scrapper was not going to lose this fight. He was going to give one hundred and ten percent this time. "Vivizords! Rise!"  
The Vivix followed the command immediately. They gathered into two large groups and began to molecularly fuse together to form two Godzilla-sized Vivizords.  
"Chase, use your new Para Chopper." Tyler said.  
"No problem, mate. Para Chopper, blast!" Chase ceaselessly fired at both of the Vivizords.  
"Let's try my new Raptor Claw!" Riley dodged an attempted attack from Scrapper and engaged in battle with Wrench.  
"Is that all you've got?" Wrench teased.  
"Not even close, tin can! Take this!" Riley gave Wrench a few hits with his saber before flipping into the air. "Raptor Slash!" The power of his Energem flowed into his saber and struck Wrench with a powerful blow.  
"No!"  
Shelby backflipped into a group of Vivix that had not fused into the Vivizords. "Can you handle my new weapon? Tricera Drill, coming through!" She took out several Vivix with the greatest of ease.  
Koda wasn't going to hold back any of his caveman strength. He gripped his shield with both hands. "Stego Shield Punch!", he hit Scrapper directly on the top of his head, causing him to stumble. "We see how tough you really are!" Koda grabbed one of his legs. "Caveman, toss!" He yanked his leg out from under Scrapper, causing him to fall to the pavement.  
As the Rangers fought the enemy, the "Jedi" took note of everyone's fighting skills. She watched Chase as he kept firing at the Viviords. He's just firing at them. He's not attempting to try something different. At least he knows how to hit his targets.  
She looked over to Riley as he used his Dino Saber against Wrench. Riley must have had some training with a sword of some kind. He's knows how to wield it and keeps a certain stance while doing so. He's good but he could do so much more than he believes he can.  
It was Shelby's turn to be observed by her. She definitely hasn't been in a real fight before. She's just throwing punches when she is certain they'll land. Effective but not efficient. She needs more training in hand to hand combat.  
Next, she observed Koda as he fought Scrapper. She noticed something that was perplexing. Koda is using brute strength to take on Scrapper. And it's working too. He's abnormally strong if he's able to do that. She focused on sensing his aura in the Force. It might shed some light on him that she wouldn't find out otherwise. His thoughts. They're simplistic. She went deeper. He's conflicted. He's happy but something's hurting him. Something from his past, perhaps. I know how that feels. I can't anything else from him right now.  
Her focus went from Koda to Tyler. She had watched him fight earlier but now she could examine his fighting closer. After a few seconds, she noticed that he had some form of a stance and tactic for an attack and defense. He's been in fights before. Fist fights in particular. Weird. I can sense that he's not the type to start a fight. I wonder...  
Chase was continuously firing at the two huge Vivizords. He wasn't making any headway that he could see. "Guys, I could use some help here."  
Shelby pulled out one of her Dino Chargers. "Time to see what my Zord can do. Dino Charger, ready!" She clicked the charger and threw it. "Summon Tricera Zord!" The charger flew into a huge canyon and entered into the Triceratops Zord.  
Tricera Charger, engage! The Charger brought life into the Zord, allowing it to use its drill of a tail to burrow out of the canyon and travel to Shelby.  
Shelby smiled behind her helmet. "There she is!" As she went to meet up with her Zord, the others continued to fight on.  
"Let's try this out! T-Rex, smash!" Tyler delivered several quick blows with his T-Rex Smasher.  
"That thing hurts!" Scrapper yelled.  
"This T-Rex Smasher has some bite!" Tyler hit Scrapper relentlessly, then grabbed his leg, threw him up into the air and delivered a quick kick to his chest.  
"Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow!" Scrapper's day just kept getting more painful by the minute.  
Chase saw the Vivizords opening their mouths in unison and jumped back in time to avoid their green energy blast. "Too slow!" Hearing the sound of a Zord, Chase looked around to see Shelby was riding on top of her Zord.  
"All right! This is the best!"  
"So, I see you met your Tricera Zord, Shelby." Chase smiled.  
"Yep! She's awesome," she jumped down in front of Chase. "Just watch what she can do. Go, Tricera!"  
The Tricerazord charged full sprint and used its tail to pierce through both Vivizords, making them exploding out of existence.  
"Good work, guys." Tyler called to his friends.  
"We finish this." Koda handed Tyler his Dino Charger. "Tyler, our powers are stronger together."  
"Combine them? Great idea, Koda." Tyler put Koda's charger into his Dino Morpher.  
Stego Charger, engage!  
"Dino Morpher Blast!" Tyler fired directly at Scrapper.  
"I'm crushed!" Scrapper yelled out as he was encompassed in an explosive ball of fire.  
"Awesome." Tyler cheered. Scrapper was defeated.

* * *

Up in space, Sledge's ship kept its distance from Earth but was close enough to monitor anything they wanted. Fury had been keeping watch of Scrapper and noticed that he had been defeated.  
"The Rangers just defeated Scrapper."  
Sledge stood up from his captain's chair. "Oh no, they didn't. Magna beam!"  
A Vivix slammed the Magna Beam button and a large beam came from the bottom of Sledge's ship to hit the once defeated Scrapper, resurrecting him to be as the huge Vivizords had been.  
"I'm gonna flatten you all!"  
Everyone gathered together and looked up at the problem they had to beat.  
"He big, like mammoth." Koda said in awe.  
Tyler took out a fully powered Charger. "We'll take care of that. Dino Charger, ready! Summon T-Rex Zord!" He threw the Charger. It went into a volcano and into the T-Rex Zord.  
T-Rex Charger, engage!  
The volcano exploded as the T-Rex Zord jumped out and backflipped to land near the Red Ranger.  
"Whoa! Nice entrance, Rexy." Rexy. That sounded like the perfect nickname to Tyler. He jumped on top of Rexy. He had an idea that might just work.  
Scrapper took an offensive stance. "That prehistoric piece of junk is no match for me!"  
"Bring it on!" Tyler challenged.  
Scrapper blasted several lasers from his chest.  
"Jump, Rexy!"  
Rexy jumped over the lasers and kicked Scrapper in the face, making him stumble backwards.  
"Nice move, Rexy."  
Back at the base, Kendall had been monitoring the Rangers. She had just figured out how to make their arsenal bigger and more powerful. "Koda. Call your Stego Zord. I think I found a way to combine your Zords."  
"That is great, Kendall. We stronger together." Koda took out his last fully powered Charger. "Dino Charger, ready." He clicked it and threw it into the sky. "Summon Stego Zord!"  
The charger went through a sea of ice and into the Stego Zord.  
Stego Charger, engage! The Stego Zord broke free from the ice and flipped through the air towards Scrapper.  
"This looks bad..." Scrapper braced for impact as the Stego Zord struck him with its tail.  
Tyler jumped down from Rexy and saw the three Zords grouped together. "Whoa! Our Zords are awesome!"  
"Tyler, the three Zords will combine?" Koda asked.  
"That's the plan. Dino Charge Megazord, Tri-Stego Formation!"  
The three Zords combined with each other, interlocking themselves to form one large, humanoid figure.  
Dino Charge Megazord, ready!  
"Dino Charge Megazord. Wow!" Riley looked up in awe.  
"Impressive, eh?" Chase added as he looked over at the "not Jedi and not Sith" stranger. "What do you think, um, lady with the lightsaber?"  
"Hmmm." She thought for a moment before answering. "It's okay."  
"What?"  
"It's okay." She silently chuckled to herself as she sensed Chase become shocked, confused and even a little ticked that she said it was just "okay".  
"Let me guess. You've seen much larger machines such as Imperial Battle Cruisers and the glorious Death Star itself."  
"Of course not." She turned to look over at Chase. "Both Death Stars were destroyed years ago. Never saw them in person. I've seen several Battle Cruisers though. They're much larger than that Megazord thing."  
Chase could hear Riley chuckle behind his green Ranger helmet. "What's so funny, Riley?"  
"Her blunt answer to you."  
Chase crossed his arms. "I didn't find it funny at all."  
Koda, Tyler, Shelby were teleported into the Megazord. Each of them had their own control pad for the Megazord.  
"Look at this!" Tyler exclaimed. "We're inside the Megazord!"  
"Awesome!" Shelby said.  
"Feels powerful." Koda added.  
The three Rangers wasted not a second more.  
"Battle mode, engage." The three Rangers shouted in unison. The Megazord went into Battle Mode under instruction from the Rangers.  
" Let's roar!" Tyler said.  
"I'll smash you!" Scrapper growled. He would not allow them to defeat him. He had a mission to complete and he was not going to let a bunch of puny teenagers stop him.  
The three Rangers in the Megazord readied themselves. "Time to take out the trash!"  
"You'll never defeat me!" Scrapper engaged in fighting the Megazord. "Take this!" Scrapper blasted several purple lasers from his chest.  
"Jump!" The Megazord obeyed and jumped high into the air, dodging most of the lasers. The ones that struck the Megazord only left singe marks and nothing more.  
"The results are in, Scrapper." Tyler grinned behind his helmet.  
"What?"  
"You're garbage. You guys ready?"  
Koda nodded. "Always ready."  
Shelby nodded as well. "Let's do it."  
All of them point towards Scrapper. "T-Rex Zord! Final Strike!"  
The Megazord, still up in the air from its jump, charged the Final Strike.  
"Unleash the power!" Tyler shouted.  
The Final Strike fired, hitting Scrapper dead-on.  
He felt his life force slipped from him as he began to fall towards the group. "I'm headed for the scrap heap!" Scrapper screamed as he exploded into a large ball of fire.  
"Monster, extinct."

* * *

After Tyler, Shelby and Koda got back on the ground, they decided to demorph.  
"Power down." All of them demorph from their Ranger form. They all had the same thought in mind and see that she had kept her word and stayed after all.  
"Impressive." She smiled at all of them. "You didn't even need me to finish the fight, just as I predicted."  
"Why didn't you help us?" Shelby asked with a hint of bitterness in her tone. "You saved Tyler earlier but then refused to fight anymore when we showed up."  
"Yeah, that doesn't really add up." Chase thought out loud.  
"That confusing." Koda added.  
"I'm a confusing person," she shrugged.  
She's not going to say anything unless we give her something first. Riley decided to turn this conversation around. "Allow me to introduce ourselves." Riley glanced at everyone to make sure they didn't disapprove of the idea. All of nodded at him.  
"I'm Riley. This is Tyler, Shelby, Chase and Koda."  
"Angela," she sighed. She knew she was involved now. She just had to not get attached. Not this time.  
"Thanks for helping me out back there, Angela." Tyler smiled at her. "If you hadn't, I might not be here right now."  
She looked down at the ground, avoiding eye contact with Tyler. Thank...you? He said, "thank you".  
"Yeah...no problem."  
At this moment, all of the Rangers Dino Coms receive an open line to Kendall.  
"Guys, if she wants, bring Angela back to the base. Keeper would like to meet her personally."  
"Got it." Chase answered for the group, as they all put their coms away. "Well Angela, let's go show you our base."  
"This 'Keeper' person trust me yet hasn't met me. Shouldn't he be more careful on who he invites to the base. I'm assuming it's a hidden location."  
"If Keeper wants you to come to the base," Shelby smiled towards her, "Then he trusts you. And so do we."  
"What do you say, Angela?" Tyler asked.  
She looked from them for a moment. If I were just leave now, I might not get the answer I want. Of course, I may not get the answer if I do go with them anyways. Oh well, I'm in this now. I'm not leaving until I find it.  
"Let's go." She forced a smile at them. They smiled back at her as all of them walked back to the base.

* * *

Back at the cafe in the museum, the Rangers went back to their regular jobs, while Keeper talked to Angela down in the base below. They couldn't wait until the museum closed so they could join the two of them in the base. They hoped that Keeper and Angela would fill them in on what was going to happen from here on out. There was only an hour left so they put that in the back of their minds and focused on the customers in the cafe.  
Tyler was at the grill, cooking up some burger while Riley placed some drink on a carrying tray. He looked up to see Chase coming quickly through the door and was about to run into Riley, who was turning around to head out the very same door.  
"Whoa! Watch it!" Tyler jumped between in and steadied Riley tray just in time. "Gotcha covered."  
Riley sighed a quick "thank you" before moving heading out the door.  
Chase thought that this was good of a time as any. He had to get it off his chest before it unfocused him from working any more. "Oh, hey. Look, I wanted to apologize. I was wrong to think you'd abandon the team."  
Tyler accepted his apology and decided that now was the best time to give his as well. "I'm sorry, too. I shouldn't have been so quick to go off on my own. Fact is, we work better together."  
Shelby sighs deeply as she entered the kitchen, with Riley alongside her. "Doesn't seem right. We save the world in the morning and serve them lunch in the afternoon."  
Tyler walked back over to the grill. "You're crazy. It's a blast. Look what I learned." Wielding his spatula, Tyler flipped the burger into the air and spun in circle. He waited for the burger to land back on his spatula but it never became back down. He looked up, just to be sure he wasn't losing his mind or anything. It wasn't stuck to the ceiling. He looked over at Riley for some sort of answer.  
"Don't look at me."  
Tyler had a suspicion as he glanced over to his right at Koda. Just a mere second of studying Koda's attempt of having a "not guilty" look and Tyler knew he was definitely the culprit. Koda couldn't suppress his laughter at his attempt to feign innocence. He spit out the burger, its tiny pieces flying and hitting Riley, Shelby and Chase who all jumped at the edible projectiles.  
"Sorry." Koda apologized.  
"Koda!" Riley uttered in disgust and disappointment.  
"Dude!" Shelby barked out.

* * *

While all of them prepared to close down the cafe and clean up the messes in the place, a informal yet serious discussion was going on between Keeper and Angela with Kendall standing off to the side working at her lab station. She still kept her hearing tuned into the two of them as they talked back and forth.  
"I know you have much experience in battle. One of the reasons I wanted to meet with you is to ask you if you would be willing to help train the Rangers how to fight."  
Angela immediately had a counter argument. "Keeper, you told me that you are over sixty-five million years old. You would have knowledge on fighting that would far surpass mine. You would be the best teacher for this. Why can't you teach them?"  
"Even though I have learned numerous fighting techniques, they are not easily used by someone who is old like me. You would be able to show the Rangers how to fight, while I would only be able to describe different types combat and show a lacking example to him."  
"That makes sense." Angela paused for a moment in thought. This was her chance to hopefully get answers in a way that Keeper would approve of beforehand. She would rather keep a peace between everyone she had to deal with than aggravate people into grow angry with her.  
"However, in exchange for my help, I would like to ask for something in return."  
"What is it that that I can give you?"  
"I need to figure out something I experienced long ago and I believe the answer is with one of the Energems. If you would allow it, I would like to hold each one and try to connect with it through the Force until one of them gives me the answer I need."


	3. Neither Sith or Jedi

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is an original chapter for this Star Wars/Power Rangers novelization crossover. ENJOY!

The museum had finally closed for the day. Everyone had cleaned up the place and had set up for the next day. Each one of them had the same thought in mind as they left the cafe and headed down to the hidden base below the museum.  
"I wonder what Keeper and Angela are talking about." Shelby said.  
Tyler shrugged. "I guess we'll know once we get down there."  
"Given that they are both technically aliens, they might be discussing all the worlds they've been on and where each of them are from." Riley guessed.  
"What do you mean they're both aliens?" Chase thought he had misheard Riley. "Angela is human, mate."  
"So?"  
"Riley, humans aren't from space. They're from Earth."  
"And yet Angela has seemingly walked straight out the Star Wars universe, lightsaber and all."  
"She could have made that herself if she is a super genius."  
"Or...she could have built them using her connection to the Force."  
Chase smirked devilishly at Riley. "Maybe so but there's one thing that you are clearly forgetting."  
"What's that?"  
"We never saw her use the Force."  
"So? She didn't use it, at least from what we saw. She could have channeled it through her to give her more strength and speed to fight both Scrapper and Wrench."  
"Eh...I still bet she was born on Earth."  
"I'll take that bet." Riley accepted the gamble. He was certain that Angela was not from Earth. "What do you say to five dollars?"  
"You're on." Chase and Riley shook hands to agree to the bet. Now all they had to do was ask Angela where exactly she was from.  
The five teenagers finally entered into the base. Near the lab were Keeper, Kendall and Angela. Hearing the Rangers come in, they move away from the lab and walk to the front of the room.  
"Rangers, I have some news to share." Keeper told them.  
"Good news?" Koda was the first to ask.  
"I believe so." Keeper motioned to Angela. "After discussing it with Angela, we have agreed to certain terms. She is to train all of you to fight better than you currently are."  
"Awesome." Tyler smiled.  
"That's great." Riley knew Angela could help him with wielding a sword.  
"Sweet." Shelby thought that Angela could help her in hand to hand combat.  
"This good." Koda cemented the thought of the wise Angela helping him with combat skills.  
"You'll be a great help to the team." Chase silently believed that he didn't need help in his skills with his Morpher shots. However, any help from Angela, after she had shown her skills with her lightsaber, would be more than welcomed.  
"However, in return, Angela would like to hold each of your Energems."  
The Rangers looked confused as Chase spoke up first. "Why?"  
Keeper and Kendall look over to Angela, cueing her to explain the 'why'.  
"Ever since I landed here on Earth-"  
Before Angela could get another word out, Riley smirked as he held his hand out. Chase reached into his back pocket, pulled out his wallet, and grabbed a five dollar bill, placing it in the winner's hand. Tyler, Shelby and Koda knew what that had been about. Keeper and Kendall stared in confusion. Angela had a suspicious that it had been a bet of some kind but didn't ponder on it. She just shook her head and continued in her explanation.  
"As I was saying. Ever since I landed here on Earth I haven't sensed any highly concentrated Force energy near me. In short meaning: there were no strong connected Force sensitives around, like me. That changed a few months ago when I suddenly sensed a strong source of energy. I didn't think much of it. Then, I sensed another one not far from the first. I considered two to be a coincidence. But today is when I sensed three more. I couldn't ignore it anymore and used the Force to find you all in that field morphed into 'Power Rangers' and fighting against those aliens. I waited until one of you separated from the group and followed them, that person being Tyler. I figured that I could just borrow it for a minute or two and find out for certain whether or not it was the thing I've wanted to find."  
"What do you mean?" Shelby asked.  
"A few years ago I had a premonition. In it I sensed the same power that emits from your Energems. At the time, I thought it was just a different form of Force energy that I've never felt before. Now, I know for certain its one of your Energems. However, I can't be for certain which one until I hold it and focus on it. I wish I had seen the color of the Energem but every vision I've had has always been in grayscale.  
All of the Rangers looked at one another. Her story seemed as solid as it could be, considering she had seemingly walked out of a fictional universe. To receive knowledge in different fighting styles from someone who had the skills, all they had to do was let her hold each of their Energems for a few minutes. That seemed to good to be true. But, if she were to steal them now, it would be in vain considering all of them could take her down in the base.  
"Alright." Tyler agreed. "That sounds more than fair. How about you guys?"  
"Yeah." They agreed as well.  
"Then, it's settled." Angela said with a forced smile. She tried her best to make it genuine, hoping the others would believe it to be real.  
"I'll go first." Chase figured it would be fair since he was one of the first ones to find and bond to his Energem. He pulled out the necklace that held his Black Energem. He took it off and held it out to her. "Here you are."  
"Thanks," she picked up the Black Energem. Immediately it's power is more intense as it rested in her hand. She closed her hand around the Energem and shut her eyes. Her focus went solely to the Energem and its power.  
Everyone kept quiet but looked at Angela as she held onto Chase's Energem. At first, they saw nothing that would indicate that she was doing anything except holding it. That soon changed as they saw black light emit from between her closed fingers. The light acted as fluid as it curved its way around Angela's arm, slowly swirling upwards until all of the streams swiveled around her. There was also another light around her. It was not coming from the Energem. It was faintly visible due to its light blue hue. Everyone assumed that Angela had something to do with that light. This did not last long as Angela opened her hand. The light from her and the Black Energem dissipated away as Angela opened her eyes.  
"This is not the right Energem," she gave Chase back his Energem. "Thanks for letting test it though."  
"No problem." Chase connected his Energem back onto his necklace. He looked at Angela closer than he had before. Her face seemed to change. Before she meditated with his Energem, she had an unreadable look on her face. Now, after meditating with the Energem, he could see that she was thinking hard about the experience. She seemed conflicted, confused. He wasn't going to ask. Not here. He would ask her later when they could be alone.  
"I go next." Koda handed her his Blue Energem. "Here go you."  
"Thanks Koda." Angela promptly took it and repeated the process. Just like Chase's Energem, Koda's emitted a blue light from between her fingers. Once again, Angela's light blue hue of light wove itself with the Blue Energem's light. As she focused on it, she began to feel something, just like she had felt something with Chase's Black Energem. She felt loneliness. It was a loneliness that she knew, just in a different way from what Koda felt within him. Besides this feeling, Angela felt nothing else. She stopped meditating and handed Koda back his Energem.  
"Sorry, Koda. Your Energem wasn't the one."  
"That okay. You find it soon."  
Angela smiled at him. "Thanks."  
Riley gave Angela his Green Energem. "Try mine."  
Angela wasted no time in meditating with the Energem. Just like the other two, the Green Energem emitted rays of green light as she connected with it. She felt several mixed emotions from Riley's Energem. These emotions were towards Riley himself and they were not conceited. Angela sighed as she stopped meditation on the Energem. This wasn't the right one either.  
"Sorry, Riley." Angela gave back the Energem.  
Riley noticed Angela's composure. She was starting to look tired. "Are you okay?"  
Damn. I'm not playing it off well. Mind as well be truthful about it. Angela cracked a smirk at him. "Yeah. I'm just a bit tired. Meditating takes a lot of my focus and energy. There's only two left. I've got this."  
Shelby was next to hand Angela her Energem. "Here's mine."  
"Thank you." Again Angela repeated the process. The Pink Energem's light wove its way between her closed fingers and entwined in Angela's blue hue of light. As she meditated, she picked up on the feelings that were bonded to the Energem. Shelby was relatively happy about where she currently was in life. At least, that is what Angela sensed on the surface. This was definitely not the right Energem.  
"This isn't it either." Angela gave the Energem back.  
"Sorry." Shelby said sincerely.  
"You don't need to apologize. It's not your fault at all."  
Tyler took his Energem off of his necklace and stared at it. "That just leaves mine left. It has to be the one."  
"In my experience, it's best not to assume something. Even if it seems like the only option left." Angela allowed Tyler to place it in her hand. Then she began the process for the final time. She could feel herself losing her focus from all the energy she was using just to connect to all of these Energems. Instead of just feelings this time, she saw a vision. She vaguely saw Tyler standing with his back towards her. As she got closer, his visage and his surroundings became more clear to her. She was seeing a scene from the past repeat to her. She watched intently, hoping to catch onto something that might help her determine if this was the Energem. If he was the one.  
"There has to be something in here." Tyler flipped through a journal that Angela knew nothing about. She looked over his shoulder to see that every page Tyler flipped had words and drawings on them. Nothing seemed to catch Angela's attention until one page showed a drawing of Fury.  
"What is this...thing?" He continued flipping through the journal, now more determined to find another clue. "Dad must have written something in here. He must have! I'll find it and I will find you, Dad. I promise."  
"Dad?" Angela backed up from Tyler. The vision of Tyler's past started to fade in darkness. "I'm slipping." Angela felt herself falling into unconsciousness. This one vision that had been bonded between Tyler and his Energem was enough to zap every last bit of energy from her body. She knew she was going to pass out. "Great. Just great," she sarcastically told herself as her last thought left her.  
Before Angela fell, Keeper and Kendall put their arms around her and slowly lowered her to the floor. The light from both her and Tyler's Red Energem had dissipated away.  
"Angela?" Kendall tried to shake her awake but to no avail.  
"What wrong with her?" Koda asked.  
"It looks like she passed out." Chase answered.  
A barely audible moan escaped from Angela's lips as she slowly opened her eyes. Her vision was blurry. She blinked a few times before her sight was crystal clear again. She said nothing as she raised her hand to Tyler and unclenched her grip from his Red Energem.  
Tyler gently took it from her. "Was it-"  
"No," she cut him off before he could finish. She quickly realized that she may have been too blunt to him. "No, it wasn't the one. Sorry."  
"Are you okay?" Riley asked.  
"You scared us." Shelby told her.  
"Sorry about that. I guess meditating on the first four Energems weakened me enough that Tyler's had enough power to make me faint." Angela began to push herself off her feet, which was met with no argument from anyone. However, Keeper and Kendall kept their hands within reach in case she wasn't entirely strong enough to stand. However, she got up and stood without any sign of losing her balance.  
"At least...you okay." Koda smiled at her.  
"I am, Koda. Thanks." Angela smiled back at him. Her thoughts about what she had seen get pushed off to the side for later as a new problem had formed in her mind. "Keeper."  
"Yes Angela?"  
"None of these Energems were the one that I held or sensed in my vision. Is it possible that there are other Energems out there somewhere?"  
"Indeed, there are. Five more Energems have yet to be found. That is why the Rangers need more training. Sledge will continue to send stronger enemies to not only take the other five Energems that have yet to be found but also take the Energems that have bonded to the Rangers, even if that means killing them to do so."  
"Why does he want them so badly?" Angela wanted to know. She had a suspicious that she already knew the answer. But, she had to hear it from someone else. "What is it that he wants that requires ten powerful energy sources to get?"  
"Sledge is a ruthless bounty hunter. If he were to posses any of the Energems, he could easily become a mercenary. If he were to get all ten Energems, he could wreak havoc on not just his galaxy but the whole universe; and nobody would be able to stop him."  
Angela closed her eyes and clenched both of her fists that were down at her sides. She took Keeper's word to be a reality. There would be no reason for him to lie to her about this. She also sensed with the Force that he was sincere in his words.  
Even here. Even here this planet is in danger because someone wants power. It's always about power. Angela could feel herself losing her balance. She couldn't fall into the Dark. Not here. Not in front of anyone. I still have five Energems to connect with. It has to be one of them. Focus. She took in a deep breath and slowly exhaled her inner rage.  
"What is on your mind, Angela?" Keeper asked.  
"Nothing at the moment." Angela answered truthfully as she opened her bluish grey eyes to him. "How late is it?"  
Keeper looked to Kendall, who looked down at her watch. "It's a little bit past nine."  
"It's rather late." Angela commented. "If it's alright with you Keeper, I would prefer we start training tomorrow instead of tonight." She looked over to the Rangers. "I'm sure all of you are tired from fighting today."  
"Yeah." They all answered and nodded.  
"Then training will start tomorrow." Keeper agreed to the idea. "How does nine in the morning sound to you, Angela?"  
"If it's fine with the others, it's fine with me, Keeper."  
Chase slightly raised his hand. "Well actually, I think that eleven would-MMMMMM." Riley had stepped on his foot to stop him from continuing anything further. He closed his mouth in order to keep his pain from being verbally known.  
"Nine sounds fine." Riley wanted it to be earlier but figured that the others weren't used to waking up early like he was. "How about the rest of you?"  
"Perfect." Tyler agreed.  
Shelby nodded. "Sounds fine to me."  
"That good time." Koda also liked the idea.  
"Then it's settled." Riley solidified the time.

* * *

Walking on the streets of Amber Beach City at night was peaceful. The sidewalks were brightly lit by streetlamps. Even though the alleys were not as well lit, they didn't look ominous. Some of them though felt ominous to Angela as she sensed the connections to the Force around her, as she headed back to her "home". This city was a perfect environment compared to some of the worlds back in her galaxy. Still, there were dangers in the shadows. That was a constant throughout the universe. Angela didn't think on it too long. She was, for once, enjoying the serene city in its nighttime environment. There were no people walking about this time of night. She was alone. Only this time, she was glad that she was. It wasn't hollowing her like it had the past few years. It was pleasant. She felt satisfied.

"I haven't felt like this in a long time." She spoke to only herself as she began to reach the outskirts of the city. "Just earlier today I was thinking about-" She couldn't finish saying it and threw the memory to the back of her mind. She was enjoying her life now, all simply because her curiosity led her to a possible answer to a question she had for the longest time.  
She walked out of the city and headed deep into Mccadden Forest, a valley and woodland area comprised of many different evergreens, deciduous trees and grassy fields with short, stubby bushes. The lights of the city faded with every step that Angela took into the forest. The darkness of the night began to overpower her sight. Taking both her lightsabers off of her belt, she switched them on to give some sight back to her. The blue light casted a wide diameter of light, enough for Angela to see several yards in all directions.  
The twenty minute hike through the woods was filled with the sounds of nighttime creatures, the humming of two lightsabers and Angela's footsteps. The end of the walk changed in atmosphere as Angela reached her "home". The cave had its entrance hidden behind heaps of brush that she had used to cover it. She used the Force to push it all off to one side and entered the cave. She then Force pulled the brush back over the entrance and turned on her survival lantern, that she had managed to hook to the roof of the cave.  
The dull orange glow illuminated her fighter. It had a rough crash landing but its outer shell had been entirely fixed. All that it needed was parts for the hyperdrive, a hyperdrive built uniquely for this fighter by Angela, since fighter ships never had hyperdrive engines. She stepped into her Starfighter and leaned back into the seat while propping her legs on top of the open cockpit's edge. Calling upon the Force, she lifted up on the small metal sheet that she had used to cover the large hole in the cave's ceiling. She made it purposefully by cutting a hole in the ceiling, in order to see the night sky not hidden behind the three canopy.  
She placed her emergency blanket over her body, pulling the edge of it to her neck. She just stared up at the stars twinkling away. She didn't ponder on them for long. The day she had lived through had tired her more than normal; and she quickly fell asleep.

* * *

She slowly opened her eyes, then shut them again. She was still half asleep, thinking she had nothing to do. That quickly changed as soon as she remembered the events from yesterday. The realization sent a surge of adrenaline through her body as she looked up to see that the star-filled night sky was crystalline blue without a cloud to be seen.  
"I'm late!" Angela did not waste any time. She quickly used the Force to slide the metal sheet over the hole in the cave ceiling and rushed out the cave with her lightsabers by her side. Even though she didn't have a way to tell the exact time, she knew that she was already late. She centered her thoughts and let the Force flow through her. She used it to run faster than what would normally be possible for a human.  
"I hope they won't be too mad at me."

* * *

Since the museum was closed on Sundays, the Rangers could do whatever they want unless Sledge attempted an attack on them. For them, their day was already set. They were going to be taught by a highly skilled Force wielder. All of them, including Keeper and Kendall, were waiting in the base for Angela to arrive. The time that was agreed to approached quickly and she had not shown.  
"She's late. Not a very good first impression, if you ask me." Kendall didn't care for Angela. She had suddenly appeared from nowhere and helped Tyler, sure. However, she couldn't believe her. She was a person that possessed powers and claimed them to be a result of her connection to "the Force". The last time she checked, the Force was a made up concept for the "Star Wars" universe.  
"Maybe she overslept." Chase had an answer for just about anything. Whether it made sense was up to the questioner.  
Kendall spun around to stare at Chase, while the others simply watched silently in the background. She sighed at him as he reclined back in one of the chairs around a circular table. He had his feet propped on that table as he played a generic rpg on his phone.  
"So?" Kendall said.  
Chase looked up at Kendall. "So what? I'm usually late yet you don't get as upset about it as you are now."  
"That's because I have learned that you'll always be late to anything, Chase. However, we can trust you. Angela, not so much."  
Chase shut off his phone and gave Kendall a questionable look. "She'll be here. And I'm sure that she will give us a reason for being late too."  
"More like an excuse."  
"An excuse that might have reason behind it."  
"Why are you so quick to believe in her?"  
"Why are you so quick to not?"  
Kendall fell silent. She had an answer but she did not want to say it yet. She would once she could back up her point. Turning on her heels, she walked from Chase and the others to get back to her lab work without saying another word.  
Chase's eyes fell back to his phone as he reopened his rpg. He was, more or less, upset at Kendall. He didn't understand why Kendall was fast to not trust Angela.  
She helped Tyler when we weren't there. If she was going to steal an Energem, she would have taken his before we would have shown up. Why can't Kendall understand that? She's making something out of nothing.  
The others sit down at the table Chase is at. He noticed in the corners of his sight and moved his feet off the table as he put away his phone. Some of them had their usual looks but Riley and Shelby did not.  
"What?" Chase asked to those two specifically.  
"Well..." Shelby trailed off.  
And Riley picked it up. "Don't you think that you were a little hard on Kendall?"  
Chase gave both Riley and Shelby a confused and slightly betrayed look. "Did you not hear what she said about Angela? She was getting upset just because she is running late. I don't see why she is making a big deal out of it."  
Even though on Chase's side, Tyler had a possible answer. "Maybe it's because Angela kind of already got her end of the deal. She did whatever she did with the Force to find out if our Energems were what she was looking for, and they weren't it."  
Chase had a counterargument immediately. "That makes sense if there were five Energems. But there are five others we still haven't found. She has a better chance of connecting with the others if she works with us as a team."  
Everyone nods mentally in agreement. What Chase said was logical. They would put their trust in Angela and hoped that she would truly be on their side.  
Her timing could not have been better. Everyone heard her as she used the secret entrance to slide into the base. She attempted to land firmly in the base...but failed. Her momentum from sliding down into the base and her rush to get into the center of room had caused her to lose her balance and fall forward onto the floor.  
Before anyone could ask, Angela slowly pushed herself off the floor. "I'm alright. I've had rougher landings." As she straightened out her jacket, Kendall walked past the Rangers and stood directly in front of her.  
"You're late." She pushed up her glasses in annoyance. Kendall was ready to discreetly give her the third degree  
"Sorry, I-"  
"What is your excuse?" Kendall asked.  
"I overslept."  
Kendall was about to continue barraging her with questions but stopped short upon hearing her answer. "Wait. You overslept?"  
Angela could feel anger within Kendall. It was the judgmental, prejudice kind. She understood where Kendall was coming from and decided to let it slide by without telling her she felt it.  
"Yeah. I haven't really slept well since I got to this planet. But yesterday, everything I was used to changed. Changed for the better, in my opinion. My mind wasn't as loud as it has been. I was able to get back some of the rest I had lost."  
"Well," Kendall smirked at Angela, letting her know that it was alright. "Be sure it doesn't happen again anytime soon."  
"Yes, ma'am." Angela said.  
"Don't call me that." Kendall stated. "Call me Ms. Morgan."  
"Will do, Ms. Morgan." Angela answered.  
"Keeper and I will be over at the lab if you have any questions for us. Until then," she motioned to all of the Rangers, who were now standing and waiting for their first day of training. "They're all yours."  
Kendall left the open area, leaving a perplexed Force sensitive to figure out how to help five Power Rangers extend their fighting abilities. She had a rough idea where each of them were at in their fighting capability. That wasn't the problem. The problem was figuring out how to teach each of them differently but equally. They all had their strengths and weaknesses. And not everyone learns the same way.  
There is much they don't know. I don't want them to be overwhelmed, even though they look eager about learning new skills. Small steps on solid ground are better than far leaps that land on crumbling ground. That's what you told me. I'll teach them how you taught me...for the most part.  
"So, Jedi Angela, what are we starting with first?" Chase was already using his charming technique to win favor with her.  
Of course, the others either rolled their eyes or looked down at the floor out of embarrassment of their friend. Koda was still confused about the word "Jedi" and decided he would ask Kendall about it after training.  
"If my memory serves me, I'm pretty sure Tyler told all of you that I'm neither a Jedi or a Sith."  
Chase already had a counterargument for Angela. "If that is the case, then may I ask where did your lightsaber come from?"  
"Lightsabers." Angela reached into her unbuttoned denim jacket and pulled out two hilts. "I hate to break it to you but others have used lightsabers besides Jedi and Sith. As for these lightsabers, they found me."  
"Found you?" Shelby asked.  
"It's hard to explain but one day I felt them in the Force. They were unique and they felt...friendly. I followed the feeling until I found both of them partially buried in the ground. I've had them near me ever since." Angela put them back on her belt. She didn't need to hide them while she was in the base. They knew who she was.  
"So. What are we going to learn today, Angela?" Tyler asked. He was ready to learn what ever Angela had to offer, as well as everyone else.  
"Well, I was just going to go over where each of you are. Your strengths and weaknesses. Then, we will go from there. Like I said, today will be easy." Angela paused only briefly to figure out how to begin. "To start, I'm going to need to borrow one of your sabers."  
Koda didn't hesitate to call his Blue Energem from the crystal charging station. He held it firmly his hand. "Dino Saber." In an instant, his other hand was holding his Dino Saber. "You can...use mine."  
"Thanks Koda." Angela held the handle in her right hand and rested the side of the blade in her left. As her fingers felt the texture of the blade, she began to think that this metal was rare and could withstand intense heat.  
"While all of you fought Scrapper and Wedge, I watched how each of you fought. Unfortunately, the only ones that used your sabers were Tyler and Riley."  
She looked directly at Riley. "Riley, you definitely are skilled with a sword. You have practiced with a standee for several years."  
Riley was stunned at her blunt comment. "Wait. How do you know that? I never told you or anyone here about how I practiced or for how long."  
"You didn't have to."  
"Did you do some mind trick thing on me?"  
"No," she chuckled. "You didn't have to tell me because I could tell by how you fought. It was an educated guess." She let Koda's saber rest down at her right side. "I'll show you how I guessed it. Call out your saber, please."  
Riley nodded and called his Green Energem from the charging station as well. "Dino Saber." The saber materialized instantly in his right hand. He put his Energem on the cord around his neck and got into an attack stance.  
"Ready." Riley said sincerely.  
"Good." Angela smirked. He wasn't going to be ready for her actions with the Dino Saber, even though he had the advantage. She had wielded blades with no weight in them. The Dino Saber, while lightweight, still threw her off a bit in how to swing it in the most efficient way. She held Koda's Dino Saber with two hands, the blade going up diagonally in front of her. "Your move. Don't hold yourself back."  
Riley didn't. His first move was a forward thrust, which Angela blocked without moving from her spot. He then proceeded to swipe at both of Angela's sides. She guarded herself from them just as easily as his first attack. He attempted a downward swing. Angela took this opportunity to change up the fight. She pushed Riley's saber to her left, leaving Riley's left side open. He quickly knew this and spun on his right foot to block her obvious attack. He failed to think about an attack to come from Angela swiping his right leg out from under him. He fell to the floor, landing on his side. The others were silent verbally but each of them consciously thinking that they would be the next to end up like Riley on the floor.  
Angela bent down to give Riley her hand. He silently took it, using his strength and hers to stand back on his feet. "Your strength is your offense. You tend to keep your opponent on the defensive so that an attack from them is unlikely. And in that lies your weakness: defense. That's because you never had an opponent who fought back. That's how I guessed that you've had a training dummy but have had some practice."  
"Yeah." Riley sighed.  
"Don't feel down about it. You already have a huge advantage with your saber. That's going to give you more time to learn some defense strategies." Angela looked over at Chase, Tyler, Koda and Shelby. She could tell what they were all thinking. Who would be next and how badly she would point out their "weaknesses". She was going to have to repeat herself in order to assure them.  
"Don't get so worried. Like I said, today is going to be easy and your training will gradually get more challenging. As for me pointing out your weaknesses in your fighting styles, let me point out mine. That way we will be equally embarrassed."  
"You have a weakness?" Shelby found it hard to believe.  
And so did Tyler. "You have lightsabers, weapons that are from a made up universe. You have Force abilities, which I thought up until early today, were just fictional. There can't be a weakness that you can't overcome."  
Angela suppressed her laughter. She wouldn't have guessed that someone believed that anything was possible if you tried hard enough. That type of thinking did not last long in the young minds from her galaxy. It was either forgotten or it died along with anyone that held it as their own personal truth.  
Damn. This world is definitely nowhere near where I'm from if he can truly believe that. I really hope that he can hang onto it.  
After recomposing herself mentally, Angela told them all that she wasn't without flaws. "I hate to break it to you Tyler but there is always a downside to anything. My connection to the Force is no exception. It's both my strength and my weakness. You'll just have to take my word for it." Angela loosened her grip on the Dino Saber. She hoped dearly that they were never have to see her weakness.  
"Let's continue."

* * *

Ten o'clock at night soon approached. Everyone had turned in for the night. Their training session was more of a full day testing session. Angela had figured out where each of them had their strengths and weaknesses. She thought about each of them as she made her way back to her hideout. After she made it back, she hid the entrance carefully before settling down in her Starfighter.

"Some of them already have some excellent skills in combat, in their own unique way." She reached behind her seat and pulled out the emergency blanket again. "However, all of them need training." She closed her eyes. She could already feel her consciousness slipping away.  
"It's going to be challenging to teach them. Hopefully, they'll learn from it. Hopefully, I can teach them as well as he taught me...minus the rough battle training."  
This is be a new experience for all of us.


	4. Return of the Caveman

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, another chapter for a story that nobody cares for. This chapter was fun to write. The next one though. Oh boy. Gotta love the mind control episodes. :D This will affect more than just Chase as well.
> 
> Reviews would be appreciated, since I think that I' not doing so well in writing these huge chapters. Questions are welcomed too!
> 
> ~TheJediAvenger~

_He was doing it again. With two simplistic tools in his hands, he chipped away at the cave wall on one of the unused spaces left. He enjoyed it. It gave him some time to think to himself, even though his family was close by in the cave doing other tasks. Slight dust and tiny pieces of the cave wall fall down onto the floor. He kept on with this until one strike hit something that was harder than the stone of the cave wall._

_He brushed the dust off of the hard substance. It was definitely different than the stone he had been working with. He pried it out with just his brute strength within his fingers. It was cylindrical, roughly the length of his pinkie finger. Most of it was a translucent blue that had metal covering the ends. At first the stone was dull; but as Koda stared at it, it seemed to glisten in response to it being found by him._

_A growl rumbled through the cave. His instincts make him look away from the crystal to check on the surroundings. He wasn't sure that he had heard it. There was nothing around. The world outside the cave was calm, as far as he knew. He glanced back down at the crystal, only to hear that growl again. This time, it was louder and closer. He growls back as he rushed out of the cave, still firmly grasping the unique blue crystal._

_As he ran towards the entrance of the cave, he heard a scream that made his instincts take control of his actions. He knew the voice behind that scream._

_"Koda!"_

_He felt himself run even faster as the voice called his name._

_"Koda!"_

_He jumped over a pile of branches that had fallen onto the cave floor. He had to reach him fast._

_"Koda!"_

_His little brother was in danger._

_"Koda!"_

_"Taku!" Koda ran out of the entrance and nearly jumped up the side of the cliff that his younger brother was on._

_It was then that Koda saw it. The saber-tooth tiger. It lowered its body to the ground, about to pounce on Taku. Koda leapt towards the tiger, grabbing it while it was in mid-jump to keep it from touching his little brother. Unfortunately, the action by Koda caused him to fall over the side of the cliff, along with two fanged beast._

_He felt nothing beneath him as he fell farther from his younger brother's sight._

_"Taku!" He shouted his name out of fear. He wanted to get back to the top, check on his little brother for any injuries._

_The law of gravity had no exceptions for anyone, no matter how selfless they had been. It would continue to pull Koda down towards the icy waters below him without hesitation._

_Death was waiting for him down there. It was ready to take him from the realm of life._

_The blue crystal in his hand intervened. It had accepted him. He had selfishly risked his own life for his little brother. He was perfect for the blue crystal. It glowed brightly as its power intensified. Koda looked at just before it released an intense flow of energy throughout his entire body. He then saw something fills his sight. He saw a large creature with many flat scales stick upright, starting from its neck and ending at its tail. It let out a mighty roar as if the creature had accepted him._

_Once the vision faded, he felt himself falling once again. His fear came back full force as he heard his younger brother's voice fade off into silence._

_"Koda!"_

* * *

 

Koda bolted upright from his fur pelt, that he had been using as his bed, on the floor. He was panting heavily as he heard another growl rumbling near his cavern room. It was not like the saber-tooth's growl but it sounded just as menacing. He needed a weapon. Looking over to his right he saw his well-worn tree branch leaning against the wall. He grabbed it with both hands and stood up from the floor. Not knowing where the threatening noise came from, he backed slowly out of his room as he kept his gaze locked in his room. The slightest movement from within it and he would strike it swiftly.

The loud, dangerous noise sounded behind Koda. He screamed back in defense as he spun around, ready to hit it with his weapon. His aggressive stance eased slightly as he sees Kendall, Shelby, Tyler, Riley, Chase and Angela. They were all gathered around a strange yellow machine that posses two wheels.   

Kendall recognized the situation and quickly apologized. "Sorry, we didn't know you were sleeping."

"Kendall-" Shelby glanced over to see Kendall slightly scowl at her. She quickly corrected herself. "Ms. Morgan was just showing us our new Dino Cycles."

"Come on over, take a squiz." Chase said to his apprehensive friend.

"A 'squiz'?" Everyone stared at Chase in confusion.

"A quiz, you know. A look?"

Nobody had a response for him.

"Uh, sometimes I wonder if I'm speaking English."

"Me, too." Riley chuckled.

Chase shot Riley a quick smirk his direction and then looked over at the still reluctant caveman.

"Take a look, Koda."

Koda eased up, holding the tree branch close to his bare chest as Chase showed him the unusual machine.

Chase pointed to several sections on the Dino Cycle. "It's got everything from laser blasters, to energy scanners, and most importantly..." Chase hopped onto the Cycle as if he had done so numerous times already. "I look really good on it." Chase was not paying close attention to his grip on the throttle. The Dino Cycle rose its front end up into the air as its engine roared loudly throughout the underground base. 

Koda took action and swung the branch down at the front tire.

"Relax!" Tyler put himself between Koda and the bike.

"Easy!" Shelby threw her arm in front of Koda, hoping he wouldn't attempt another hit on the Dino Cycle.

"It's alright, Koda." Angela softly spoke to him.

Koda quickly looked at everyone. He saw that each other them were worried. Worried for him more so than the Dino Cycle.

"Relax." Riley exhaled with a smile.

Koda did relax. He slowed down his breathing as his grip loosened on his wooden weapon. "Sorry. My instincts say...danger."

Shelby rested her left hand on his right shoulder to give him a sense of protection, that everything was alright. "No apologies, I totally get it. Where you're from, anything that makes a strange sound is a threat."

Shelby's phone, which she had set on the main lab table, rang with a generic tone. Koda's instincts kicked into high gear. He quickly spun around and brought down the tree branch onto the device. The impact from Koda's attack caused the phone to fly off the table and land on the hard floor. The back of the phone, the internal battery and the now-shattered screen of the phone separated from one another and the ringtone slowly faded into silence.

Shelby couldn't say anything except stare in shock at her broken phone on the floor. Everyone else was either shocked with her or cringing at what had happened. Chase, on the other hand, could not help but faintly chuckle at the instant karma that had just happened before him.   

Koda instantly felt bad once he realized that the strange noise that item had made had belonged to Shelby. "I'm sorry, Shelby, I..."

Chase stopped him before he could continue. He had the perfectly response that would give him more enjoyment while teasing Shelby more about the situation. "No apologies, mate. She totally gets it."

Shelby gave Chase a disgusted look that screamed "ha ha, very funny." In the back of her mind, she was already thinking about how she would get a new phone. She didn't exactly have the budget at the moment to just replace it.

Angela called upon the Force to make all of the pieces rise up off the floor and over into both of her open hands. She noticed how simplified the parts were inside the main body of the phone. As for the screen, that would be the hardest part.

"I think I can fix this for you, Shelby. It might take me several hours though. The screen is going to the trickiest part."

Shelby's eyes lit up. "Really?"

"Yeah. I'll go get started." Angela walked over to one of the empty tables that the team usually used to eat food on or just hang out.

She already knew that the lab tables were off limits. Angela could sense that rule just from Kendall's attitude towards her and the others, if anyone got close with something that was not suited for the work area. The normal table would be fine. She sat down and gently laid out the three pieces of the phone in front of her. It was going to take some time but she knew it could be done.

Chase had an understanding of where Koda was at in adapting, the others were not. Kendall walked over to Koda to address the others. "He's grown accustomed to morphing into a Ranger, but..."

"Some modern things still give me...nervous." Koda sheepishly told everyone.

Chase realized that he would have to take Koda out for another day of learning about the modern world. This one would be a bit more involved than the previous ones but it would benefit Koda in the long run.

"Look, you just need a few pointers. I've ridden everything from roller coasters, to kangaroos. If anyone can teach you how to ride the Dino Cycle, it's me."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa." Riley spoke up. "Wait a second. There aren't any kangaroos in New Zealand. Those are in Australia."

Chase waved it off. "Ah, details." Chase urged Koda to join him as he exited out of the underground base. "Let's give it another go, Koda."

Koda smiled hesitantly. "Okay."

* * *

The bounty hunter Sledge, along with his fiancé Poisandra, walked into the shuttle room of his ship. Fury had been waiting for him to arrive. The second in command had some information that Sledge would find most useful.

"Master Sledge."

Sledge knew what he was about to say and was already questioning Fury's actions. "What can this dirtbag do, Fury?"

The "dirtbag" was named Slammer. He looked like a mesh of a law enforcement robot, equipped with chains and metal cage bars. He looked like trash. However, his towering stance and piercing yellow eyes could instill fear more easily than most monsters. "I'll get you those Energems in no time."

Fury motioned towards Slammer. "He'll capture the Rangers in his cages. He never misses."

Poisandra couldn't keep quiet. Fury's words were too boastful for her ears to hear. "Never misses? Please. Spoken by the one who couldn't find a single Energem in sixty-five million years." She spun on her heels and went back to her lover's side.

"Pink freak." Fury exhaled.

Sledge stomped directly in front of Slammer. He had to warn him about what failure would bring him. "Slammer, get down to Earth and don't disappoint me!" Sledge then remembered what Wrench had told him a few days earlier. He thought it best to warn Slammer of that, too. The better Slammer knew of the situation, the more likely he would be successful at taking the Energems from the Rangers.

"Also, keep your guard up. Wrench has informed me that the Rangers have a Jedi on their side. You will know her when you see her. He believes her to be very powerful. Do **not** underestimate her if she appears before you and take action. Be relentless. And if you can manage it, capture her as well. If not, make sure you kill her and bring her corpse back to the ship. Some of my contacts would pay generously to have a body of a dead Force wielder."

Slammer walked from Sledge and entered into the open space pod that was already charted to automatically fly down to Amber Beach City. "I will bring you the Energems; and if she shows herself, I will bring the Jedi back to the ship as well, Master Sledge." Slammer vowed verbally to both himself and Sledge, as the space pod's hatch closed.

One of the Vivix quickly hit the launch bottom to send the pod shooting out of the ship and down towards the blue and green world. Now, all Sledge had to do was wait. Simple enough...if it weren't for his lovely bride-to-be who was still standing by his side.

"Oh, Sledge, darling, let's forget those pesky Energems."She took his hand in hers and teasingly ran a finger from his upper arm down to his wrist. "I'll go mad if I have to spend another day in this rust bucket with only vermin for companionship."  

 Sledge already had a solution to this issue. "That's exactly why I got you a present. Wrench!"

The doors to the room slid open to the hangar room.

"Right here, Master Sledge!" Wrench informed. He had led Poisandra's present to her, proud at what he had accomplished in just a few hours.

"A present?" Poisandra was pleasantly surprised and had no idea what it could be. "For me?"

"I built him with old monster parts. I call him 'Curio'." Wrench introduced the monstrosity.

Poisandra gasped. "You got me a friend." She stood on her tiptoes and gave Sledge a soft kiss on his cheek. "A best friend." She rushed over to the monster, who looked like a ragdoll of numerous monster parts all sewn together. Poisandra loved it. "Aren't you just adorable? Wanna go make some trouble?"

"Sure thing!" Curio held out his hand, which Poisandra took immediately as they both skipped out of the room.

Sledge sighed as his finance left his sight with Curio. "I hope that pinhead gets her off my back." He quickly spun around to face his second-in-command. "Fury, Slammer's cages better work. I want those Energems."

"They'll work, Master Sledge."

* * *

 

Chase and Koda were enjoying another day together. It was another day where Chase would teach something new about the modern world and Koda would learn about it. Most of the days Koda would see the new item up for discussion by Chase. Today, however, was a day where Koda participated with it.

Koda focused on two things. One: pedaling his feet very slowly. Two: Trying to keep balanced on two wheels. With a helmet too small for his head, Koda rode on the bike that Chase had brought along to Amber Beach Park. He could only pedal the bike a few yards at a time before he would have to plant both of his feet on the ground, to keep from falling over. This was his fifth attempt to ride the bike longer than the last.

Chase rode on his skateboard to Koda's right. He rode his board leisurely so that he wouldn't make Koda think that he had to rush in learning to ride the bike. Even though his mind wandered from time to time, Chase's focus would be true in important times, especially for his friends.

"Very good." Chase complimented. "Smooth, keep it moving."

Koda smiled as he gradually pedaled faster. He had rode the bike farther in one attempt than he had the other times.

"Yeah, looking good, my man." Chase paused to correct himself. "I mean, caveman."

A group of kids rode around Chase and Koda on their bikes. They all laughed at Koda wobbling on the bike. The thought of someone older than them that had yet to learn how to ride a bike was unusual and rather hilarious.

Koda didn't utter a word to them since his focus was on what he was doing.

Chase wasn't one to shy from saying what he thought. He felt angry as he turned  around to look at the kids that had passed by. "Hey!"

Before he could continue, Chase heard a scream from in front of him. _Koda._ His anger switched to worry as he saw Koda heading for a curb right in front of him. "Look out!"

It was far too late. The front tire of the bike struck the curb, sending the caveman flying over the handle bars and headfirst onto the grass.

Chase winced as he knew how landing headfirst on any surface felt. _Man, I should have been paying more attention. At least it was grass and not pavement._ He hopped off his skateboard and jumped up onto the grass to help Koda up by giving him his hand. "Here, mate."

"Thank you." Koda grabbed his hand and pulled himself up. "Sorry...about bike."

"Ah, don't worry about the bike. It's fine." Chase looked around and saw a wooden bench that had no people on it. "How 'bout we take a break?"

"Sound good to me."   

After they both grab their rides, they head over and sit down on the bench. Chase and Koda set their rides on either side of the bench. Silence fell between them as they looked around at the tranquil scenery. A fountain rested in the center of a circular bed of white and purple Anemone flowers. One of the park keepers, an older gentleman, pushed a wheelbarrow to the area of the flowers that needed attending to. On the opposite side of the fountain a woman jogged on the path as she listened to the music blasting away in her earbuds. Several people talked to each other on the other benches around the fountain, not noticing the lovely park around them. This park was a place where people could get away from the rush of the city, whose cityscape could be seen if one were to look above the tree tops that surrounded the edge of the park.

Chase took in a deep breath of fresh air and slowly let it out. The anger from earlier left him. He looked over at Koda. Koda wasn't looking at the park but down and at nothing in particular. Chase knew Koda was feeling bad about not learning as fast as he wanted to.

"No worries, mate. It takes time to figure it out."

Koda raised his head and looked over at Chase. "Is not just, uh...bike. Many things I not used to, uh...like TV." He had been scared by a creature within the strange box and quickly took his handy branch to smash in its screen. "...and, and comb..." The prickly sticks could not unravel the knots in his hair and only hurt with every pull and tug. "...and glass..." He would never see it if it was spotless and always run into it. It was usually when he was carrying out food or drinks on a tray to customers in the Dino Bite Cafe.

"Yeah, I guess this world must seem pretty strange to you." Chase repositioned himself so that he was sitting to face his friend. "But hey, right here, right now, you've got nothing to worry about..." Out of Chase's peripheral vision he saw two ladies walking by. His attention briefly fell on them. "...except for looking good for the ladies."  

Koda sat up straight and flexed his muscles, still being in the mindset of his caveman experience. "Yes, look good for--" His words trailed off as the park's water sprinklers turned on to shoot water across the grass. Koda's instincts told him to jump backwards over the bench. He slipped on the slight decline in the ground and fell.

Chase groaned then sighed as he realized that he had his work cut out for him. He promptly got up from the bench and helped Koda up off the ground once more.

"Relax. They're just sprinklers." Chase gave him a friendly tap on the shoulder.

Koda was confused. He pulled out his Energem, which was connected onto his necklace that Kendall had made for each Ranger to keep their Energem on them when they were out and away from the hidden base. He looked at the gem. "Why would blue Energem choose a caveman?"

Koda looked up. He saw movement up in the sky that was not normal. It was large and appeared to be very heavy. It was heading for both him and Chase. "Duck!" Koda rolled out of the way before the object could land on him. Unfortunately Koda looked over to see the Chase had been trapped by it. "What is that?"

Chase wanted to move. He wanted to do something but couldn't think of anything that would get him out of the electrified cage. He peered through the bars to see that Koda had moved out of the way without getting hurt. However, he saw that the likely owner and culprit for the trap was walking closer to Koda.

"Koda, behind you!" That was all Chase could say as his vision started to fade. Both he and the cage that entrapped him both dissipated into a blue light before disappearing entirely.

Koda gasped. Chase had disappeared before him. He listened to his friend's warning and looked behind himself to see several people running away from a robotic creature composed of metal bars and chains.

"One Ranger locked up. Time to give him a cellmate." Slammer materialized another cage, like the one he had used on Chase earlier. He swung it in a circle several times before throwing it at Koda. "You're getting a life sentence without parole."

Koda sprung up from the ground and jumped up into the air with a spin. He kicked the cage off to the side before landing back down. He wanted to morph into the Blue Ranger but there were civilians around.  Kendall had told him that was one of the three rules he always needed to remember about being a Ranger. He saw a shovel lying inside of the wheelbarrow that the park keeper had been using and promptly picked it up. He bolted towards Slammer and began hitting him with the shovel relentlessly. Slammer didn't so much as flinch at the attacks.

"Where is my friend?"

"You'll be joining him soon." Slammer grabbed onto the handle of Koda's shovel. "Stop trying to break out before you're even in." He managed to twist the shovel free from Koda, but not without the caveman delivering several failed punches and kicks to his torso.

Koda could not gain the upper hand in this one-sided fight. He tried every combination and move he knew of. Nothing fazed Slammer and soon Koda found himself getting thrown several yards through the air and falling down a small flight of stone stairs, that led to the lower half of the park.

Slammer once again materialized another cage in front of him as he stood at the top of the stairs. "The smart thing to do is to come quietly. But you're not very smart. Are you?"

Koda rushed to stand up again and braced for another cage about to be thrown. He froze up. Out of the corner of his sight he saw a little boy riding a bike, and he was coming his way. Koda looked back to Slammer who was about to let his cage fly towards the both of them.

_No. Must not let cage hit him._ Koda ran towards the boy. "Watch out!" Koda shielded the boy with his body, which made the boy stop biking just in time as the cage landed around them. They were both trapped.

Slammer couldn't believe it. Not only had he captured a second Ranger but he also trapped a little kid as well. He had never caught two victims with one cage before. "Two's double the fun!"

* * *

There was only enough light around for Chase to see where he had been taken to. He peered through the bars around them to see that he was in cave. That's all he knew about his surroundings.

_Maybe if I morph I can get myself out of this cage._ Chase focused hard but nothing came about it.

He didn't go for a second attempt for morphing.

Gripping two of the bars, he tried to push and pull in several directions, hoping that the cage would be light enough to lift in any way.

It was pointless.

Chase sighed as he rested his head on the bars. "If I had one of Angela's lightsabers this cage would be scrap in no time." Maybe if he was lucky enough, Angela would help him make a lightsaber once he got back.

If he ever got back.

Doubt started to creep into Chase's thoughts. He didn't know where he was. Koda certainly didn't know where he was. He couldn't morph and didn't have anything that could get him out of the cage. That creature that had trapped him would more than likely arrive soon and take him to Sledge. His Energem would be taken from him painfully, since Sledge couldn't use its power while he was bonded to it.

_Am...am I going to-_

A sound from behind him snapped Chase from his train of thought. Another cage had appeared in the cave. Chase saw Koda inside of it. He felt both relieved and scared. He was no longer alone. He wasn't going to just disappear without anyone knowing where he was. However, both he and Koda were now captured. Two Energems were now at risk of being lost to Sledge instead of one.

"Koda, I tried to morph, but I can't." Chase watched as Koda tried to pry apart the bars. If anyone could, it was Koda; but the bars stayed as straight as ever. "Even you can't bend these bars." Chase looked down near Koda's feet to see that they weren't the only ones that had fallen to Slammer's traps.

"Hey, who's that?" Chase nodded down at the boy.

Koda had forgotten about him. He knelt down near the boy and slowly unbuckled his bike helmet. He wasn't going to need it for awhile, since the cage had landed on his bike and smashed it into an unusable mesh of metal and rubber.

"You okay?"

The boy slightly shook his head as he gently gripped his left leg, just under his knee. "My leg, I think it's broken."

"Koda, look." Koda looked to where Chase was pointing. "The cage landed on the bike, maybe you can get out."

Koda began to push the bike through the opening that it had created when the cage landed on it. He minded where the bike moved so that it would not touch the boy and aggravate his injury any further. Once the bike was out the way Koda was able to crawl through the opening under the cage easily. He then motioned for the boy to get close to the opening. Once the boy got close, he lied on his back. Koda reached in and, as smoothly as he could, pulled the boy through the opening. He moved him over to a rock formation and leaned the boy up against it.

"Stay still." Koda moved from the boy. He saw two sticks lying on the cave floor. Perfect.

"Nice work for getting out. This cave is too dark for--" Chase trailed off as he saw that Koda had created a fire and lit the end of the larger stick, creating a great deal of light in the room.

"Wow." The boy said.

Chase was also impressed. "Oh, you've got to teach me how to do that."

Koda moved back to the boy. "What is your name?"

"Peter."

"Peter, can you hold torch?"

Peter reached out and grabbed onto the torch. "Yeah."

Koda quickly got to work. He had learned some things when he had been unthawed in modern times. Simplistic medical aid was one of them. Kendall was patient with both Chase and him. She believed all of the Rangers should know basic aid in case civilians were hurt during an attack from Sledge and his minions. From what he knew, Koda saw that Peter's leg had slightly swollen.

"He need doctor." Koda told Chase.

Suddenly, Chase remembered that he hadn't tried his Dino Com. He pulled it out of his back pocket and pressed the call button. "Kendall, can you hear me?" No response. "Is anyone out there?" Chase gets an answer that is all white noise. There went that option. "There's some kind of field jamming our equipment."

Koda knew that it was up to him now. He had to find a way out and fast. He could see Peter was having trouble focusing. His sight went all over the place. He took back the torch from Peter, having finished up making a temporary split for Peter's left leg, using the stick that wasn't lit on fire and his blue t-shirt that he had been wearing.

"Which way?" Peter asked. He was more than willing to get out of the cave with Koda.

"The wind show us." Koda felt a slight breeze in the cave and looked up at the torch's flame. The flame bent to his right, meaning the wind had come from his left. Koda pointed in that direction. "We go this way." Koda eased his right arm under Peter, picking him up and holding him with only his right arm since his left hand was busy holding his only source of light.

Koda walked over to Chase, still trapped in his cage. "I get Peter out, then I come back."

"Good luck." It was Chase could really say and do from behind the bars.   

* * *

Kendall had finally finished her supply run and had returned to the museum. It was just a small bag full of food supplies for the kitchenette for the base downstairs. However, she had to head into the cafe to see if Koda and Chase had arrived for their shifts. For Chase to be late was normal....and Koda couldn't quite read a clock well yet and usually would ask Chase the time, since Chase was usually around him.

She walked through the museum, noticing that a normal-size group of people were wandering around and admiring all of the dinosaur displays and fossils. That eased her mind a bit as she walked into the cafe.  Her eyes jump all over the place, looking for any signs of Chase and Koda. She doesn't see them but instead saw Shelby waiting on customers, Tyler cooking in the kitchen and Riley managing the register.

Kendall walked up to the front counter. Her slightly worried look made Shelby and Riley drop what they were doing at that moment. Tyler had saw Kendall walk up and moved from behind the stove and to the counter where the orders would normally be placed. He needed to hear what was on her mind.

Kendall lowered her voice so that only Shelby, Riley and Tyler could hear her. "Chase and Koda are late."

"Chase is always late." Shelby said.

"And Koda doesn't even know what time it." Riley stated.

Kendall mentally nodded at both their points. "True. But they aren't answering their Dino Coms either." Kendall already had a plan of action ready for this. "Tyler, Riley, take the Dino Cycles. Their scanners will allow you to cover more ground."

"Okay." Tyler nodded to Riley. "Let's go."

Shelby turned towards Kendall. "There's something else on your mind."

"Yes. Continue working your shift since the replacements will be here in a few minutes. Meet in the base after that. I'll let you know if anything comes up before then."

"Alright." Shelby left to tend to more customers.

Kendall made her way down to the base. She had another person she could put to use in searching for Chase and Koda. The walk down the hidden staircase was quick and easy. She walked into the main room of the base to find it empty.

_Where is she? She was here when I left, still working on fixing Shelby's phone._ Kendall set down the bag of snacks on the table Angela had been working at.

"Figures."

Keeper suddenly appeared behind Kendall. He was as silent in appearing as ever and always appeared when anyone on the Ranger team needed some help, whether they wanted it or not.

"You seem angry, Kendall."

"Not angry. Frustrated." Kendall walked over to the lab where Keeper was standing. "Do you know where Angela went?"

"Yes. She informed me that she had some tools that would help in fixing Shelby's phone. She went to go get them and will be back in an hour. That was ten minutes ago."

"Fantastic." Kendall blurted out sarcastically. "I'll just call her with-" She trailed off. Even though Angela had been around most of the time, she hadn't given Angela a means of contacting her outside the base. Why hadn't she thought of that sooner? "I haven't given her a Dino Com. I'll have to wait until she gets back. I have Tyler and Riley searching for Chase and Koda using their Dino Cycles. When Angela gets back, I'll have her help in whatever way she can. With her Force power or whatever she calls it."

Keeper kept silent. He had no insight on the matter. He knew Kendall had issues with Angela being on the team. Her story was straight out of the Star Wars universe. But he too was not from Earth. He was as much of an alien as Sledge was.

"If she comes back in time. For now, you must focus on the task you must complete."   

"You're right." Kendall turned around to face Keeper. "Thanks, Keep-"

He had vanished once again into thin air.

"And he's gone. Classic Keeper."

* * *

Koda put down Peter onto a nearby rock that was flat enough to sit on. Water trickled down into the cave from a crevice on its ceiling. He tore of a small section from the bottom of his dark tan undershirt, since his blue shirt had been used to hold Peter's splint together. He wetted the cloth and walked back over to Peter. As he knelt in front of Peter, a large group of bats flew just over their head, screeching as they went deeper into the cave.

Peter had never saw bats outside of a zoo. To see them flying in darkness and just above his head was slightly unnerving to him. What else could be in the darkness of this cave system? His imagination thought of devilish creatures lurking just within the shadows. He then remembered seeing Slammer. He hoped that he would not have to see him again. But, he knew that the monster would find them if they didn't make it out as fast as possible. The fear within him started show on his face and it didn't go unnoticed.   

"Peter," Koda reminisced as he talked to him. "I have little brother like you." He used the wet cloth to wipe off the tickle of blood and dirt that had become caked onto Peter's forehead. Luckily for Peter the cut was no longer bleeding.

"I protect him. I protect you."  Koda pulled back his hand and made a fist. "I promise."

Peter felt better hearing that promise. He gave Koda a fist bump before he crawled onto Koda's back once more. They were close to getting out of the cave. He knew it. And he knew Koda would get him out.

* * *

Alone. He had felt this before but not to this degree. Chase had remembered when he was left alone for the first time. He was about eight years old and it was just after Chloe, his younger sister, had been born. He had caught a cold and the medicine to treat it had been out of date for some time. Mrs. Randall had to make a quick store run, the closest being just two blocks away. She could drive there, get the medicine and be back in no time.

_"Alright Chase. Chloe and I are going to the store and getting you some medicine." His mom gently placed his fluffy blanket around him as he looked away from the TV for a moment to acknowledge his mom. "Will you be alright being alone for a few minutes?"_

_"Mom, I'm eight. I'm not scared." Little Chase said with the most innocent confidence._

_His mom smiled at him. "That's my little man." With Chloe in her arms and her purse strap looped on her shoulder, his mom walked out the front door and shut it slowly._

_"I'll be back before you know it."_

And she kept her word. She was back before Chase realized that a few minutes had passed. He felt like he had taken a big step towards growing up.

But now, the situation was much more severe. He wasn't a kid living at home anymore. He was on the opposite side of the world, a legal adult, that had two jobs: one that made money and one that protected the world from alien threats. He was bonded to immense power source that he had to protect from those said alien threats, that gave him powers and abilities not humanly possible. And now, he was alone with these thoughts to creep into his conscious, since there were no distractions.

He could feel himself slightly shake and knew he was starting to lose his cool. No. He had to bring himself back to normal. "I'm won't be alone for long. Koda will get Peter to safety, then come back. He won't fail."

Silence fell in the room for several minutes. He then heard footsteps trudging into the room and they were not human.

_It must be that monster. Deep breaths, Chase. Don't let him know you are actually worried. That's a sign of weakness. You got this!_

Slammer stomped into the cave where he had teleported the occupied cages into. He was ready to send his two captured Rangers up to Sledge's ship and then lay out traps for the others using the little boy as live bait. That plan soon left his mind has he saw that one of the cages no longer held anyone.  

"What? A jailbreak on my watch?" Slammer saw that the bottom of one of the cage's sides had been bent and that a crumbled bicycle lied near it. "That Ranger is more clever than I thought."  He picked up the bike in a fit of rage, throwing it against Chase's cage and then stomping on it furiously. "I'll crush him."

Chase casually leaned against the side of the cage, channeling his natural charisma like he did whenever a pretty girl got near him. Except this time, it was for mere distraction and not for flirtatious reasons. He had to distract Slammer for as long as he could so that Koda and Peter could get out of cave and to safety.  "Hey, I'm pretty clever, too. Let me out, and I'll show you."

"You wanna show someone? Show Sledge. He'll eat you for breakfast and rip that Energem from your lifeless body. Now, I have a Ranger to catch." Slammer left Chase to run through Slammer's words over and over. Time was no longer on the Rangers' side.  

"Watch your back Koda."

* * *

This was going to be easier than he first thought. An exit had revealed itself to Koda and Peter. It was where light was entering through the cave: upwards. All Koda had to do was climb with Peter on his back and holding the torch in his right hand. He had climbed in more challenging situations in the past. This would only take him a bit more time to climb but it was absolutely doable.  He was over halfway up the wall when he and Peter heard a sinister laugh deep down in the cave below them.

"You won't escape me."

Koda no longer had the extra time that he needed to climb the wall while managing Peter and the torch. He let the source of light fall from his hand. He didn't need it now that the sun would be his guide.

_This now a challenge. I can- I will do it._  

* * *

Tyler and Riley had morphed into their Ranger gear and were already out in Amber Beach City riding on their Dino Cycles. They quickly used the scanners on the cycles inside the city limits before heading towards the outskirts. Better to keep as much as a low profile as possible, so as not to attract a crowd.

"Riley, we'll cover more ground if we split up."

"You got it." Riley continued on the road while Tyler took a left turn, heading towards the road that ran parallel to the ocean.

* * *

Koda regretted throwing the torch away as soon as he reached the top of the wall. He thought that once he climbed up far enough both he and Peter would finally be out of the cave. However, reaching the top only led to them both seeing that the cave continued farther up. Off to the side, there were two paths, both of which had sunlight pouring through them. If Koda still had the torch, the wind could have told him which way to go.

"Two paths."

"Which way?" Peter asked.

"I not know." Koda answered.

Peter suddenly had an idea. He hoped that they were close enough to the cave's entrance that it would work. He pulled out his cell phone that his mother had given him for his recent birthday. His other present had been the bike that was now scrap metal. At least one present survived.

"Here." Peter held it out in front of Koda.

Before Koda could react to it he heard Slammer's laugh again. It was still a ways off but it was definitely closer than the last time he heard it. He did a quick look around him before looking down at the device Peter held out to him.

"The phone signal is too weak, but the GPS map may work." Koda took it from Peter. It looked complicated but Peter was already on it. "Now, that arrow is us, okay?"

Koda's mind went to work. While he seemed out of his time, he was still smart as humans of the modern era. Even more so in certain areas. He just had to think through more thoroughly and slower in most situations.

_Arrow...is us. Point...of arrow is forward. Like tip of spear. Tip of arrow is pointing at opening...and we are too._

Koda looked up to see that he was facing one of the two paths. He took that path and glanced down every few steps to see if he was going the way the GPS was telling him to go.

* * *

Riley had continued his search on his Dino Cycle, heading towards Mccadden  Forest. Tyler had continued on the coastal route. A beep along with a mini map on the dash of his cycle informed Tyler that it had picked up a signal.

"Ms. Morgan," Tyler spoke through the mic in his Ranger helmet.  "I'm picking up a magnetic field. Do you see it?"

Kendall, along with Shelby who had just finished her shift, was in the base at the holoprojector. The map appeared on the projector and highlighted the area of the magnetic field in red.

"I see it too. Strange readings." Kendall confirmed.

"That field must be keeping them from communicating with us." Shelby concluded.

"Or maybe even from morphing." Kendall answered back, with a slight tone of worry in her voice. "They've got to get outside." Kendall reached up and pressed a button on her earpiece to contact the Green Ranger. "Riley, I'm sending the coordinates. Meet us at the mountain."

"Right, I'm on my way."

* * *

Koda, with Peter still clinging onto his back, crawled through a small opening. Since he needed both of his hands for balance, Koda had held onto Peter's phone with his mouth. Peter had told Koda that his phone had a flashlight attachment on it and turned it on for him, giving Koda some light to use to crawl through the opening. Once out, he stood up as a smile slightly came to his face and took the phone from his mouth.

"Peter, look..." Before the two of them was a hole in the cave wall, vaguely hidden behind some jagged rocks. They were almost out.

A shot from behind hit the top of the hole they had just drawled through. Slammer was several yards on the other side where they had just been.

"Hold still, I won't hurt you." He teased. "I'll just destroy you."

* * *

 

Tyler was the first one to arrive at the mountain where the magnetic field was. As he jumped off his Dino Cycle he demorphed. Riley then drove up to Tyler and hopped of his cycle, demorphing as well. Kendall had commandeered Tyler's red jeep to get her and Shelby to the mountain. She stopped behind the cycles and threw the jeep into park.

Shelby quickly ran over to Riley and Tyler. "Any sign of them?"

Tyler shook his head. "There's a cave over-" He stopped midsentence.

From the darkness of the cave ran Koda. All of them stood frozen in both awe and worry as they saw their caveman friend exiting the cave. His appearance was rough to look at. He had dust and dirt plastered randomly on his arms and legs. His hair was tangled and wild more than it normally was. He looked as if he had went back to his roots, how he had lived one hundred thousand years ago. In his arms was a child they had never seen before. He appeared to be unconscious and they noticed that his lower left leg had been splinted using sticks and strips of Koda's blue shirt.

Koda ran up to Kendall and carefully placed him in Kendall's open arms. "He need doctor."

"I'll get him to a hospital." Kendall wasted not a second more. She made her way back to Tyler's jeep with Peter in her arms.

Peter was fading. He struggled to open his eyes for a brief moment. But when he did, he saw Koda worriedly look back at him, along with three other faces giving him a similar look too.

_His friends?_ His thoughts started to fade as well with every second. _Koda. Be careful..._

Everyone took their gaze away from Kendall and Peter as they left. They were now worried for someone else.

"Koda, where's Chase?" Riley asked.

"Still trapped in mountain."

"Trapped? By who?" Shelby inquired.

Koda furrowed his eyebrows and a scowl showed on his face. He looked behind Shelby at the top of the mountain. "Him."

All of them turned around to see Koda staring at Slammer, who was standing at the very edge of the mountain above him, cage ready to be thrown at them.

"Hey, Rangers, thanks for coming. How about you stay a while?" Slammer began to swing the cage on its chain. He wasn't going to miss with this throw. "Or in this case, forever?" He loosened his grip on the chain, letting the cage fly down towards the teenagers.

Koda was fed up with cages. Enough to last him several lifetimes. He jumped onto a nearby rock and caught the cage above his head before it could capture his friends.

Slammer yanked back on the chain in disgust. "Hey, let go of that!"

In one swift yank, Koda threw it off to the side, away from his friends. The sudden tug caused Slammer to fall forward, screaming as he fell several hundred feet onto the ground below. He was now on the same level ground as the Rangers.  

* * *

Angela's trip back to her Starfighter wasn't without cause. She had picked up some of her equipment from the cave her Starfighter was hidden in. Not wanting to extend her trip over an hour, she immediately left her "home" and began her trek back to the base.

"Just a few more adjustments and it should be better than new." Angela had noticed while fixing the phone that the software was slower than she had been used to in her galaxy. Nothing like a few recoding adjustments wouldn't solve. She had always had a talent for technology. Either that or it stemmed from her lack of societal involvement as she was growing up.

She stopped walking for a moment and waited. Something was off. There was tension nearby. She headed off in that direction, curiosity drawing her to it. With each step she took, the tension became more clear until she was certain of its cause.

"Feels like the Rangers are fighting one of Sledge's minions.  Better hurry and get there." Angela went into a run and soon reached the edge of a cliff.

She heard something fall onto the ground below and looked down the cliff side to see Slammer down on the ground, with Koda, Shelby, Riley, and Tyler just a few yards away from him.

"Wait..." She looked carefully around for another Ranger. "I sense Chase's Energem nearby but I don't see him." She sat down at the edge of the cliff, letting her legs dangled over the side. "I can sense that he is alright, wherever he is. For now, I'll stay up here. This gives me a better vantage point anyways."

Instead of pulling out Shelby's almost repaired phone, she reached into her jacket pocket. Her fingers brush over paper. She briefly felt guilt as she quickly pulled her hand out of the wrong pocket and into the correct on, pulling out a small notebook with a pen that was attached to it by a thin red string.

"Alright. Let's see what you all do without knowing someone else is watching you."

* * *

"It's...morphing time." Koda said.

Shelby, Tyler and Riley stood to either side of him. Koda was going to take the lead on this one and none of them had the slightest problem with that.

"Dino Charger!" Koda pulled out his charger.

The others followed. "Ready!"

They clicked the chargers and put him into their Morphers. They acted and spoke in unison. If there was one thing they could do in their sleep, it would be morphing into their Power Ranger forms.

"Energize! Ha!" They pointed their Morphers into the air. "Unleash the power!"

Instantly, they had their Ranger armor on. They were ready to fight Slammer. After their role call, of course.

"Tyrannosaurus Rex, Power Ranger, Red!"

"Ha, Stegosaurus, Power Ranger, Blue!"

"Velociraptor, Power Ranger, Green!"

"Triceratops, Power Rangers, Pink!"

All of them raise their voices in unison. "Dinosaur might, ready to fight!"

"Power Rangers..." Tyler started.

"Dino Charge!" Everyone ended.

Several Vivix rose from the ground upon Slammer's need for them. "Vivix, destroy those Technicolor twits!"

"Hang on." Tyler spoke back. "It's about to get wild!"

"We do this!" Koda charged forward with his friends immediately following him. He ran onto a group of Vivix and began roughly throwing them several yards from him. "You not mess with caveman strength." The Vivix weren't going to stand a chance.

"One for you, one for you." Shelby wasted no time in kicking and punching all the Vivix that attempted to surround her. The last two standing were the easiest. Quick on her feet, Shelby reached behind her and gripped onto the Vivix's shoulders.

"And finally, here's yours." She pulled herself up and over him while delivering a kick to the other Vivix's bottom jaw, then kicked the Vivix, that she had flipped over, in the gut and causing him to crumble to the ground.    

 Tyler and Riley had went straight to Slammer to take him on together. Tyler resorted to his fists while Riley had pulled out his Dino Saber. They kept landing hit after hit, slash after slash. Slammer continued to stand as if the attacks were a mere inconvenience.

"Escape is not possible!"

Tyler of course had a witty comeback. "Oh, yeah? I thought breath that bad wasn't possible." Tyler front-flipped several times, the momentum caused Slammer to stumbled a few feet back.

Now, it was Riley's turn to unleash a set of sword slashes. "Yeah, and your fighting skills stink too." He attempted to land a strike but Slammer wouldn't have it. He grabbed Riley's wrist, twisted it then threw him backwards. Luckily, Riley landed gracefully on his feet.

"I'll punish you for saying that." Slammer focused his rage to produce several arcs of lightning from his fingers, directing them to the Green Ranger.

Riley managed to dodge all the lightning. He couldn't stay still or else Slammer would hit him for sure. He bolted towards Slammer as he wielded his Saber backhandedly. _I got this._ Riley focused his mind on the move and called it out as he jumped towards Slammer. "Raptor Slash!" The energy from his Energem saturated the blade of the saber and cut through Slammer ferociously, causing the alien to crumble to the ground.

Tyler had already ran back to his Dino Cycle and fired up the engine. It was time to test out how capable it was in a fight. "Let's try out the battle mode on these Dino Cycles."

Riley sprinted to his cycle as well. He was ready to test out his cycle too. "Yeah, I want to see what they can really do."

Slammer slowly got up from the ground and looked to either side of him. The low rumbling of the Red and Green Rangers' cycles were coming from either side of him. What they were going to do he hadn't the faintest idea of.

"I'll lock you both up." Slammer once more conjured and let his lightning fly towards both of them.

Tyler saw a slight rise in a smoothed out rock in front of him and used it to gain some altitude and avoid the lightning at once. 

Riley successfully swerved around on his Cycle to avoid the lightning. Once the bolts ceased he carefully kept his Cycle moving forward and balanced enough to take both of his hands off the handles. He took out a new Dino Charger and placed it into his Saber.

**_Raptor Charger, engage!_** The voice announced its confirmation. Riley once again held his sword backhandedly in his right hand and placed the left back on the handle. He made his Cycle accelerate towards Slammer, seeing him prepare to let more lightning fly towards him.

"Power Slash!" Riley's saber ignited the power of his charger, causing the blade to glow bright green before striking Slammer perfectly on his torso.

"My turn." Tyler quickly loaded a fully energized charger into his Morpher.

**_T-Rex Charger, engage!_ **

"Energize!" Tyler gave the barrel a spin. This, along with his voice command, made the Morpher ready to deliver the extra powered shot. Tyler aimed for the center of Slammer as he continued to drive his cycle towards him.

"Dino Morpher Blast, final strike!" The energy left the Morpher and formed into a luminescent red Tyrannosaurs Rex head with its jaw open fully.

Slammer knew there was no "bail out" for him on this one. The shot enclosed on him and struck him with an immense burst of highly concentrated Energem power. His body was ensnarled in red arcs of electricity zapping every point on his body.

"You'll do hard time for this." Slammer shouted with the rest of the energy he had. Then, he fell backwards onto the ground as the lightning caused his body to explode in a intense fireball.

_Now, that was awesome!_ Tyler smiled behind his helmet. Now the only thing they all had to do was get Chase out of the cave. Simple enough.

* * *

Angela made note of the final strike before looking back up. Only this time, she looked into the blue, cloudless sky. "There's no way that was it. Sledge still hasn't played his winning card for this round." She waited to see if her guess was right.

* * *

Sledge had, of course, watched the whole fight unfold and end not in his favor. "Those worthless Rangers! Vivix, get over here!" One of the Vivix walked over to him and was grabbed by the throat by Sledge. "Fire the Magna beam, now!" The Vivix nodded as he was let go. He went over to the button and slammed it down. The second phase was about to start.

* * *

 

The Rangers quickly grouped together. Slammer was gone and so were all the Vivix that had been summoned.

"We need go back in cave, save Chase." Koda said.

"Come on!" Tyler started off towards the entrance that Koda had come out of. He stopped two steps ahead as he saw the all-too-familiar beam strike down where Slammer had fallen. "Oh, no." 

In mere seconds, Slammer had come back to life and several hundred yards taller. He chuckled sinisterly as he looked down the ant-sized Rangers. No way was he going to fail in capturing his prisoners this time.

"I knew that was too easy." Angela made a note on this as well. "Sledge is probably has his ship in orbit."

"He's blocking the cave entrance." Shelby uttered in disappointment.

Tyler rested his hands on his hips as he looked up at the gigantic problem. "Then we've got to destroy him first."

Tyler, Shelby, and Koda knew that they had to form the Megazord. Each of them grabbed a new charger from their belts and clicked them. "Dino Charger, ready! Dino Charge Megazord, Tri-Stego Formation!" They tossed their Chargers and waited for those pleasing words.

**_Dino Chargers, engage!_** "The Zords had accepted their Chargers and moved quickly towards each other. _Zords combine!_ The Zords complied without hesitation and locked together as they repositioned their numerous parts. **_Dino Charge Megazord, ready!_**

Koda, Tyler and Shelby warped into the Megazord and placed their Dino Morphers into their control consoles. "Battle Mode, engage!" The Megazord was ready for action. The three Rangers jumped the Megazord over Slammer and wrap its arms around the monster.

"Let go!" Slammer struggled to get away from the Megazord's grip.

"Riley," Tyler spoke through his com in his helmet. "It's time to try out your Zord."

"Oh, I've been waiting for this." Riley pulled out his last fully-energized Charger and engaged it. "Dino Charger, ready! Summon, Raptor Zord!" He tossed the Charger into the air.

It travelled quickly to his Raptor Zord and locked into it. **_Raptor Charger, engage!_  **It didn't waste another second as it bounded towards its owner.

"Jailbreak." Slammer finally managed to get free from the Megazord's grasp.

Tyler shook his head at the brief victory as he heard the roar of the Raptor Zord approaching rapidly. "Guess again!" He and his friends watched as the Raptor Zord flipped forward into the air, delivering a quick, sharp slash down upon Slammer. They now had the time to form a new Megazord to deliver a final strike to the oversized alien. "Dino Charge Megazord, Stego-Raptor Formation!"

**_Zords combine!_** The Zords respond as Shelby's Zord detached from the Megazord. The Raptor Zord connected to the left arm of the Megazord. **_Dino Charge Megazord, Stego-Raptor Formation! Ready!_**  

Riley warped into the Megazord with the rest of his team.

"Hey Riley." Tyler outstretched his arms, motioning to the large interior of the Megazord.

"Whoa, it's so cool in here." Riley smiled behind his helmet.

"Your Zord," Koda looked over to Riley. "Very Strong."

"Let's see what we can do together." Tyler said to everyone.

Everyone knew the command and said it together as one. "Bladed Raptor Slash!"

As the Megazord began to execute the attack, Shelby called out to her Zord through her helmet. "Tricera, go save Chase!"

Tricera immediately ran towards the cave and used its internal scanners. The scanners were able to get through the magnetic field surrounding the mountain and pinpointed Chase's location. All Tricera had to do was drill through the rocks.

* * *

At this point, Chase was sitting down in the cage. No point in standing when you don't know how long you would be there. Then, he heard it: Tricera growling. "I know that noise." His casual attitude and witty charisma had found its way back to him. He quickly stood up and braced for whatever the Zord would do next.

Tricera swung her tail towards the outside of the cave wall and pierced through the solid rock formation with ease. The sunlight poured through the new hole as Chase lowered himself as close to the ground as he could. "Hey Tricera, try to lift the cage with your tail."

Tricera responded with a low roar. She maneuvered her tail through two of the bars and then slowly lifted the cage from the ground. Chase quickly rolled out from underneath the cage and stood up just as Tricera put it back down on the ground.

"Thanks, Tricera."  

* * *

Angela was still writing down notes in the notepad. She had gathered a fair amount of information from the Rangers fight so far. It would help her plan out a fine-tuned training session for each Ranger. Midway through writing a note, she felt a sudden presence from behind. She knew who it was.

"Keeper."

"Angela." Keeper walked from behind her and stood off to her side. She continued on writing without looking up from the notepad.

"Why are you here?" Angela asked.

"I should be asking you the same."

"What do you mean by that?" Angela flipped the page to an empty one.

"You should be down there with the Rangers, helping them fight Slammer."

Angela slammed the notebook shut. She wanted to lash out. Keeper's word brought back a past memory. Instead of yelling at Keeper, she quickly had two excuses to use.

"Keeper, the Rangers are in the Megazord and Slammer has revived to be the same height as the Megazord. I would be crushed under their feet. Besides, I'm not a part of the team. I'm just here to help them become the best fighters they can be. I will only get involved if they are at a risk of getting killed. Nothing more. Nothing less."

Angela reopened her notepad. She had to take down more notes on the teamwork that the Rangers were currently doing.

Keeper had lived for millions of years. He knew that Angela was hiding behind her excuses. His work was cut out for him. "You may not be a Ranger, but you are equally as important as any Ranger. However, Rangers are at their strongest when they **all** work together. That, in itself, requires trust."

Before Angela could answer back, Keeper had disappeared just as fast as he had appeared. She mentally sighed as she focused back on the battle between Slammer and the Megazord.

_It's not at simple for me, Keeper. It's never that simple._

* * *

"I sentence you to destruction." Slammer yelled at the top of his voice, as he kept receiving hit after hit from the Megazord. He tumbled back as the attacks were getting the better of him.

Tyler noticed that Tricera was coming back towards them. "Look, Tricera Zord is back."

"You found Chase. Good job." Shelby praised her Zord.

"Chase free." Koda could finally relax about his friend. He was safe.

"Now, let's finish this." Tyler said.

"Right." Riley added on.

They all thought as one and spoke as one. "Raptor Zord, Final Flame Strike!"

The Megazord let out a mighty roar. The T-Rex Zord fired out a stationary ball of fire and the Raptor Zord absorbed the entire flame into itself. The Megazord charged forward at an intense rate of speed and swung out towards Slammer for the final time.

"Oh no, I'm going away for good!" Slammer exploded into a large fireball, dissipating from existence.

Tyler clenched his fist in success. "Monster Extinct!"

Angela quickly dotted down the final moments of battle with Slammer and the Megazord. She got up from her spot on the edge of the mountain and began to make her way back to the base. Shelby's phone just needed a few minor adjustments and it would be finish. She would do that back at the base. Then, if the others had not returned yet, she would read over her notes and plan for the next training session for the Rangers. She hoped that Keeper would be absent, to avoid any awkward situations that could arise from that.

* * *

Several days had passed since the Rangers' battle with Slammer. Angela had decided to hold off on the training for a bit. She also gave Shelby back her phone, fully repaired and functioning like brand new. Of course, Shelby squealed and thanked Angela several times for fixing it.

Koda had requested to see Peter every day, whenever he wasn't on his shift at the Cafe or busy with anything else. Of course everyone, Kendall included, let Koda have this one.

In fact, Chase took it one step further than the rest. He suggested that Peter needed a new bike, since his last one got crushed by one of Slammer's cages. Everyone, including Kendall and Angela, chipped in and on the same day bought Peter a new bike. Now all they had to do was drive back to Amber Beach Park, where Koda figured that Peter would be since he would have been out of the hospital by now. All of the Rangers, plus Angela, hoped into Tyler's jeep and arrived at the park in no time.   

Peter was luckily near where Tyler brought the jeep to a stop. He shifted it into park and turned off the engine. Koda hopped out of the jeep and moved to the back to remove the bicycle off the jeep. Koda listened as Peter told his friends about the adventure he had been on a few days prior.

"Suddenly, a cage fell right on us. It was pitch black in the cave, but he made fire with his bare hands, so we could see the way. Then he carried me under boulders and through cracks. It was totally dangerous, but for him, no problem. He was like...like a caveman."

Everyone in the jeep had dumb grins on their faces as they all looked behind to Koda, who also had a smile on his face.

One of Peter's friends chimed in. "Whoa, caveman, cool." They all believed his story. There was no reason for Peter to make it up at all. He wasn't the type of friend that would. "Well, gotta go."  

 "Yeah," Peter replied. "See you guys later." Peter was about to head off towards home when he saw Koda resting a bike and helmet against the wooden fencing that separated the parking section from the rest of the upper park.

"Koda!" Peter didn't hesitate as he gave Koda a big hug.

Koda returned it and then knelt down to Peter's height. "How is leg?"

"It's good."

"Good. I brought you a..." Koda stood up and grabbed the helmet from the bike, handing it to Peter. "Bicy...Bi...Uh...Bi-"

"Bicycle?" Peter finished.

"Yes, yes." Koda breathed out.

"Wow, thanks, Koda." Peter paused for a moment. He remembered back to a few days ago. Maybe there was something that Peter could give Koda in return. "Hey Koda? Can I ask you something?"

"Yes." Koda nodded.

"I saw you trying to ride a bike. You don't know how, do you?"

"It...a bit scary for me."

Peter understood how he felt. "Yeah, I was scared at first, too, but don't worry. After you learn, it's easy-peasy. In fact, I could teach you."

Koda immediately had second thoughts, ones that pertained to him slowly backing up and getting into the jeep, hoping that Tyler would drive away as fast as possible. "Oh, um..."

"Come on." Peter recalled the words Koda had told him, as he held out his fist. "I protect you. I promise."

Koda sighed. He really didn't want to attempt the two-wheeled machine again. He would have said no too. However, when Koda looked at Peter and how he acted towards him, he couldn't help but compare him to Taku, the younger brother that was lost to him by time's ceaseless flow. He was going to do this. He now wanted to do this. Koda fist bumped Peter to accept the offer.

"Cool." Peter handed him the helmet. As Koda put it on, Peter ran through some key tips. "So the most important thing is to keep on pedaling."

Koda hoped onto the bike and began to pedal.

"You have to move forward or else you'll fall over." Peter gave Koda a big push forward, giving Koda an extra boost of speed.

Koda's grip tightened on the handle bars as he continued to pedal the bike into the center of the park.

"That's it. You're going great, Koda."

"I think I got it." Koda continued on riding the bike, his confidence growing with each turn of the gears. This was as easy as Peter said it would be.

_If I can..learn to ride bike, I can learn anything._  


	5. Breaking Black

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OOOOOOOOOOOOOO! It's been a while, hasn't it? Sorry about that. But I think that time I took was worth it. I enjoyed and actually love this chapter. I hope you will too! 
> 
> A few notes: 
> 
> 1\. The plot is now a bit more altered from the show. Not much but enough to notice. I got to give the Star Wars character a bit more action, don't I? 
> 
> 2\. There is swearing. Only two "hell" and "damn" variations. Hey it's rated T for a reason. I had this planned all along. 
> 
> Expect more of this and more bodily harm to, as characters get hurt in this in more ways than one. 
> 
> To the one review that asked if we are getting a male Sith in this story. You may or may not be on the right track. lol 
> 
> REVIEWS ARE VERY WELCOMED BECAUSE I REALLY WORKED HARD ON THIS AND WANT YOUR OPINION!
> 
> ~TheJediAvenger~

_Darkness. It had encircled her. The only light source she had was both her lightsabers. She had already ignited them, their blue glow illuminating only a couple of feet ahead of her. She walked forward, hoping that something would clue her in to where she could be._

_All she knew at the moment was that this place was...anomalous. Unnatural darkness limited her sight. The air and atmosphere were absolutely silent. She could not even hear her own footsteps or her breathing. She felt nothing except her grip on her lightsabers, her chest rising and falling with each breath, and her heart beating slightly faster with each passing moment. The Force, the energy that she had known to be constantly everywhere, was not here._

_She felt true loneliness and helplessness. Her adrenaline streaked throughout her body, its cold sensation causing her to lose courage with every step she took._

_Then, she froze. Her legs refused to take another step out of fear, as her eyes caught the faintest outline that the light from her cerulean blades highlighted in the dark. The silhouette was human. Knowing this caused most of her courage to return to her, and she was going to face them._

_"Show yourself. Step into the light."_

_There was brief moment of inaction. And then, just hidden in the darkness, two yellow glowing eyes glared menacingly back into hers. She did not expect it. She also didn't expect to see a familiar face that possessed those eyes either._

_Chase stepped from the darkness, his face mere inches from hers._

_She didn't back away from him. Her mind tried to figure out what had happened to him but could not find a solution quick enough. She asked him, her voice low enough to be a whisper, "What happened to you?"_

_"The same thing that happened to all of us."_

_Stepping into the circle of blue light, Tyler and Riley stood on Chase's left then Koda and Shelby appeared on Chase's right. All of them looked forebodingly at her with the same yellow-tainted eyes that Chase had._

_Chase broke his countenance. Instead of a threatening glare, he wore his usual smile as he went into his calm, laidback attitude. This made him far more sinister and frightening as he spoke again, this time nonchalantly as if it was another normal day for him._

_"Luckily, this won't affect you. You get off scot-free. Congratulations!"_

_She looked at him confusingly. She had no idea what Chase meant, why everyone looked different. She couldn't figure out why she couldn't sense him, their Energems or even the Force in this place. She didn't even know what this place could be or how it could even exist._

_Chase knew what she wanted. "You have no idea what is going on here. Do you? Well, allow me to give you a hint."_  

_Before she could react, Chase grabbed onto both of her wrists. The strength behind his grasp was inhumanly intense, causing her to yelp as her hands lost their grip on her lightsabers. They deactivated as they fell onto the solid floor with a clank. Darkness immediately retook its hold on everything around her. She attempted to turn around and run but was roughly picked up by her neck as an invisible force began to constrict her breathing._

_All of the yellow eyes that the Rangers had possessed were gone and were replaced with one set of crimson eyes. Their vicious, malignant existence glowed eerily bright, revealing Chase's face in a blood-tainted light. Barely able to focus, she saw that his face had obtained a ghostly pale tone and murky black etchings that had no curves but many lines with edges and corners._

_"Your hint is this."_

_She was slipping away from the choke hold around her neck, as she heard the words in the most bloodcurdling tone of voice._

_"Your connection to both Sides will save you from dark magic but will awaken the terror that you truly are."_

_She lost consciousness, slipping back into reality._

* * *

Angela struggled to open her eyes, waking up from her dreadful slumber. A haze clouded her mind as she sat up in the seat of her Starfighter. Her daily routine was habit, thus not requiring a focused thought process to accomplish. She picked up her jacket, which she had laid down immediately in front of her, and slowly put it on. Next, she pulled her boots onto her socked feet. As for her white, long-sleeved shirt and her denim jeans, she had worn them to sleep. She got out of the cockpit of her Starfighter and walked out of the cave, grabbing her backpack on the way out that held her notepad, two lightsabers and numerous other items.  She had to get to the museum by nine, since that was the time that they all had agreed to have training everyday at that time.

With each step towards the museum, her mind began to clear from its daze. However, instead of admiring the walk to the museum like she normally would do, she thought about the nightmare she had experienced. It was surreal in every aspect.

"Maybe it was...a vision?" Angela mumbled to herself. She had just reached the outskirts of Amber Beach City. Just a couple more minutes and she would be there.

"But...their eyes were not theirs. And the Force was absent. I couldn't sense them or their Energems." She sighed as she stopped thinking on it. And then she realized something. "So...I couldn't see the color of the Energem I held in a vision years ago but could see in full color for this one?!" She sighed, "I hate the Force sometimes. So inconsistent." She kept on her course on getting to the museum. "I can't get anywhere with this. Besides, I need to focus on the lesson that I'm teaching the Rangers today."

* * *

The Rangers were ready for their next training day. Each of them participated in a one-on-one with Angela using Dino Sabers. She was testing their fighting prowess without giving him any insightful tips this time around. All of them were able to at least get a few parries and blocks in, but none of them landed a hit on her.

Riley lasted the longest, which everyone expected that result. Riley had practiced swordplay ever since he could swing around sticks and broomstick handles. If he continued to progress at the rate he was going, he would soon be an absolute equal swordsman in skill to Angela.

Second place was Tyler. While he was capable in wielding his Saber, his skill was not as great as Riley's. He parried and blocked several times before Angela held the tip of her borrowed Dino Saber near his neck. He had great potential of gaining more skill in wielding his Saber.

Shelby was just behind Tyler, in third place. She lasted almost the same length as Tyler had. While she didn't parry and block as much, she dodged many of Angela's attempted strikes. Angela made a mental note to write this down in her notepad later. She would incorporate Shelby's dodge strategy into a specific point in training Shelby one-on-one.

Second to last was Koda. It wasn't because he was poor in his sword skills. It was because of his technique. Koda was from a different era. In his time, the key in winning a fight was to have strength and brutal, heavy attacks that had little strategy coupled with it. This was an advantage in certain situations but sometimes strategy and calculated attacks were how the battles were won. Another note to add and a new strategic practice session for Koda to implement.    

In last was Chase. It wasn't that he was awful in his sword skills. It was the fact that Angela was letting her emotions rule. He had attacked first, which Angela blocked. Then, she struck back with such intense and blunt force that Chase's Dino saber went flying out of his grasp, striking the cave wall before landing on the floor with a few clanks. The other Rangers saw it but thought that Chase just wasn't paying attention. Chase thought the same way, that he wasn't giving the situation enough of his focus. They were all partially right.

Angela apologized, saying that she had misjudged the strength behind her attack; and she asked for Chase to engage her again in a sword fight. He said it was alright, went over to pick up his Saber off of the floor, then began his training session again. He lasted longer this time, as Angela kept reminding herself that it had been a nightmare and Chase wasn't like that at all. Besides, he didn't have those devilish yellow eyes that she had saw in the dream either. After lasting through a few attacks by dodging and attempted swings, Chase was disarmed again, only this time Angela had twisted the Saber, with the one she held, out of his grip.

The training session for the day was finished. It was also time for the Rangers to begin their shifts in the Dino Cafe upstairs. After putting away their Sabers and calling their Energems from the charging station, they all headed out of the base. Only Kendall and Angela were left, as Keeper was nowhere to be found at the moment. Angela sat down in her usual place at the small table, just a few  feet from the lab. She pulled out her notebook from her jacket pocket and began to jot down everything vital she received from the individual Saber training sessions.

 _This is one area of the training figured out...for now. They are each at their own level. Some of them are going to be naturally better than others, like Riley. He had a head start though._ She paused in thought as she wrote down notes for him. Then, she continued down the line for each of them.

"Catch."

Angela quickly looked up to see an object flying towards her. She dropped her pen and caught it between both of her hands. She saw that Kendall had thrown her a Dino Com. "What's this for? Do you need me to fix it?"

Kendall moved out from behind the lab and over towards Angela. "No. That one is yours."

"But I'm not a Ranger." Angela stated bluntly.

Kendall nodded in agreement. "While that is true, you're still a part of this team. Even though you're here to help find the Energem that you experienced in your Force dream, or whatever you call it, you are still helping the Rangers get better in how they fight. Not only that, should you not be nearby when the Rangers get into a fight, like they did with Slammer a few days ago, you will be able to receive calls and contact both the base and the Rangers should you need help...or if they need yours."

Angela slid the Com into one of her inside jacket pockets. "Thanks."

"You're welcome." Kendall left the base, heading upstairs to oversee the daily functions of the museum.

Today was going to be the start of a very intense day.

* * *

The Rangers were dealing with the beginning of the lunch rush. It was less than normal but that didn't make them any less busy. Riley and Shelby were in charge of taking people's orders and serving the customers their food. Tyler had control over the totaling the bills and ringing people up at the registers. Koda had his usual dishwashing and cleaning duties. Chase got to prep and make the orders, most of them being grilled items.

A familiar beep sounded from Chase's apron pocket. "Hey," he smiled as he put down the spatula and pulled the phone out to look at the text he received.

Shelby rushed into the kitchen to pick up one of the burgers that looked finished. She was not too thrilled when she saw that several more orders had yet to be started, let alone made. "Chase, can't you finish anything?" Shelby quickly took the unfinished burger out on a tray.

Chase picked up the mayonnaise bottle and squeezed out some mayo for the burger. The only problem was that he didn't notice that Shelby had taken it out, because his focus was more on the text sent to him.

Shelby walked to one of the tables and placed the tray between a couple. "Here's your order," she said with a quick smile before leaving them to enjoy their incomplete meal. She pulled out her notepad and was ready to take the next order at another table. Keeping busy on the customers would surely help in dealing with Chase's inattentive manner.

"Hi. I'm Shelby. Can I take your-" Shelby did a quick double take. She didn't believe who was sitting at the table. "Chase?"

Chase was looking across the table at a very lovely girl. She was glancing back at him too, until Chase looked up at Shelby. "Hm?"

"Aren't you suppose to be manning the grill?"

Chase looked back at the beautiful girl across from him. "The grill?"

And then his mind clicked the two words he said together.

"The grill!" Chase quickly looked to see that there was a huge bellow of smoke rapidly filling the kitchen. He left the table and ran back to the kitchen to get it under control. "Oh, so sorry."

The fire alarm was already beeping annoyingly as Riley and Koda rushed around in the kitchen to get anything that would bring the fire down to manageable.

"I'll get the fire extinguisher." Tyler ran to get it.

All of the customers just watched the fiasco ensue. It was then that Angela walked in. She saw Shelby first and went over to her.

"Hey Shelby. I have a few questions about your preferred fight-" Angela dropped her sentence. She witnessed the boys slowly getting the fire under control. She looked over at Shelby, who in turn looked back at her. "I can see this isn't the best time to ask any of you anything....or get lunch here. I'll meet up with you guys later." She left the cafe, heading towards Amber Beach City to grab a bite elsewhere and to study over the notes she had.

Shelby sighed to herself. "It's going to be a long day."

* * *

 

Roughly an hour had passed since the incident. Every customer in the cafe had left, leaving the place empty except for the Rangers and Kendall. Kendall was not too thrilled when she had found out about what had happened.

Everyone stood around a table that Chase had found a seat at. Tyler sat down at the table as well, instead of opting to stand.

"Come on! One little fire." Chase said.

Kendall took off her glasses out of frustration, a common habit of hers. "That could have burned down the entire museum."

"And exposed our base." Shelby added.

Chase stood up from his seat. "Okay, I get it. I promise to pay more attention to--Moana!"

Everyone turned around to look at this Moana person. As they glanced upon her, they noticed that she was dressed very differently from the average person. She was dressed as if there was an air of strange mysticism in what her occupation was, if she had one. The fact that Chase knew someone like this baffled everyone there.

"Who is that?" Shelby asked Chase.

Chase didn't respond. His attention was on Moana. "How are you? It's been a long time."

Moana embraced Chase, who gladly accepted it. She then pulled away and had a slightly worried look on her face. "Chase, I need your help." Moana pulled Chase over to the other side of the room, to make the conversation slightly more private, even though the others could still here everything Moana and Chase would say from that short distance.

"What is it, Moana?"

"I've had a vision. And...and someone is going to steal from me something of great value."

Chase felt that several pairs of eyes were staring at him and Moana. He looked over to them to give a bit of an explanation. "Moana is a Matakite. A Maori fortune teller from New Zealand."

Moana grabbed onto Chase's arms and turned him back to face her. "I need you to guard my shop."

"Really?" Shelby threw the question out into the open. "Chase is going to guard it?"

Kendall spoke too. "I hope you have a fire extinguisher."

Tyler couldn't help but laugh at that quick remark from Kendall. The others kept their enjoyment down to snickers.

 Koda didn't laugh. He didn't get the joke. "What 'fire extinguisher'?" Tyler told him he would explain later what it was.

Chase rolled his eyes at the remarks as he figured out a strategy that would best benefit Moana. "What about the police?"

"Oh, they think I'm crazy." Moana glanced down at the small section of Chase's chest. "You have special strength, Chase."

Chase pulled out his Black Energem by the string it was connected to, letting Moana look at the object without hesitation. Kendall stood shocked and looked over at the others to see them just as confused as she was.

Moana looked directly into Chase's eyes. "Only you can help me."

 _Only me? Huh..._ He started becoming proud of that fact. "Well...okay," he threw her his usual smirk and agreed. He would help Moana. After all, if it wasn't for her, he wouldn't be where he was now.

The fortune teller didn't waste a second. She nearly was dragging Chase out by his arm. He quickened his steps so that he wouldn't fall.

 _I can handle this. No problem._ He just finished his thought to himself when he nearly ran into the back of Moana. She had stopped instantly, just before she had reached the doorway to the cafe. He and everyone else saw that Angela had come back into the cafe.

Angela stood looking directly at Moana. Moana was also looking right at Angela. Both of them knew something was off about the other. The air between them was silent until Moana gave Angela a quick smile.

"You too are just as special as everyone else in this room."

"Uh..." Angela trailed off. Her mind was working overtime on who this person in front of her was. She felt her presence in the Force to be very different from anyone she had met on Earth so far.

"Don't worry. You're secret is as safe as everyone else's is." Moana didn't waste another moment. She walked past Angela, with Chase in tow behind her.

Angela walked over to the others. "I would ask what that was about but I'm pretty sure none of you know either."

All of them shook their heads and answered no. However, they could explain what had happened an hour ago in the cafe up until Moana showed up. It would take a minute or two, but the cafe was closed for the day. They had all the time they needed.

* * *

Towards the outskirts of the city was Moana's shop. Both on the sidewalk and inside of the building were numerous objects, ranging in numerous sizes, shapes, materials and functions. From practical or illogical. If it existed and held some value to Moana and her customers, it was there in her shop. Of course, curiosity is a common trait in humans. Chase was no exception. He saw that Moana had acquired several new items for her shop. He went over to a mask that was lying on a shelf and put it up to his face.

"Hey, Moana. This Maori mask is cool."    

Moana yelped as she quickly snatched the mask from Chase's grasp. "Touch nothing." She placed it down on a table near her, before giving Chase instructions.

"Chase, you must stay alert at all times. You never know when something or someone will cross your path."

Chase reassured her with him resting a hand on her shoulder. "Don't worry, Moana. I will protect your shop. Go on."

Moana smiled weakly as she grabbed a single suitcase that was at the entrance of the shop. "I'll be back tomorrow afternoon."

"See you tomorrow, Moana." Chase waved to her before she left the shop, closing the door behind her.

That was it. He would be alone in the shop until Moana came back tomorrow. The shop was closed for the day she was gone. Moana ran the business and made that call to close it instead of having Chase run it on his own, especially since she had a vision of someone stealing something. Surely, that would give Chase the advantage.

"Well, better settle in." Chase sighed as he began implementing his plan. He would make sweeps around the shop, through the many thin aisles that were the only spaces that did not have inventory on it. Then he would sit down for a bit, then go do another sweep. It was that simple.

For the remainder of the day, Chase went through each aisle to check for anything out of place. The routine, while thorough, soon got to be very repetitive. Chase quickly began to lose focus while doing the sweeps and his sit-down breaks grew longer. The thought of someone breaking into the shop began to become less of a certainty and more of a "maybe".

Nighttime became present within hours of Chase being in the shop. Nothing yet had happened. Chase was sitting down in the usual place, between a rack of hanging, fluffy coats and a stuffed mountain goat...of all creatures. His mind started to jump around to different thoughts, instead of staying on the reason for him being at the shop.

First it was a quick snack.

He ate a bag of chips.

Then it was playing one of his favorite shooters on his phone. With his headphones on, Chase had the surround sound of the game drawing him into that world.

After that his thoughts slowed. It was nearly a quarter past two in the morning when Chase started to get tired. Not his best record. His record was thirty-one hours without sleep. His eyes soon closed and his breathing became slow and deep.  

He was gone.

* * *

The sun rose on a new day in Amber Beach City. It was already eight in the morning and most people were up and about, mostly enjoying the pleasantly cool breeze that was keeping the dry summer heat in check.

The backdoor to Moana's shop was forcefully swung open. A satisfied laugh broke the silence that had been in the shop. The perpetrator was mindful in where and how they stepped as they began to sense out the object that they wanted.

"Once I do this, Sledge will finally free me." The soon-to-be thief walked softly by the sound-asleep Chase, unaware that he was even there. And then, they saw it. The object was lying on a table along with several other objects of no value to them.

"Ah, yes." They picked it up pendant, admiring its golden shine and detailed etchings. It looked like a miniature vault door. A vault door that kept its power contained within it. They knew it had dark magic. It had the power to control minds and would slowly snuff out any free thoughts from anyone under its influence.

"Soon the Rangers will be under my control." They uttered the last statement a little too loudly.

Chase snapped awake. He thought he had heard someone talking. He eased up from his seat and carefully looked to his right to see the intruder. From just a mere second of seeing him, Chase knew that he was working for Sledge, one way or another. He was at least six and a half feet tall, sported a cloak that went from his shoulders down to shin-level and had the resemblance of a humanoid crow. One very ugly yet menacing humanoid crow.

 Chase didn't wait another second and made his presence known to the intruder. "Hey, put that back!"

The intruder heard Chase but ignored him as he placed the magic pendant onto his chest, the purple magic from the pendant had "seared" the object to the intruder. It was now his to wield however he saw fit.

"Take this, human." The intruder forced the pendant to shoot out several beams of its magic.

Chase didn't have time to react. The magic pierced into his eyes, causing his eyes to turn from their usual, gentle hazel tone into a piercing yellow.

The intruder bolted out of the shop, chuckling to himself as he did so. Chase wasn't going to let him get away with the pendant. He too ran from Moana's shop after the thief, making sure to snatch up his helmet and skateboard along the way.

 "Sledge will be so pleased." The thief reassured himself as he began to initiate the next step of his plan. He wasn't going to go back to the ship with just the newly acquired pendant. He was going to come back with all of the Energems and the Rangers under his control. All he had to do was find one in order to get the rest under his control. The universe wouldn't stand a chance.

Chase nearly jumped through the doorway and prepared to take off on his skateboard. He froze up before he could even put on his helmet as he felt a wave of sharp pain course through his head. He shook his head, trying to refocus himself. "What's wrong with me?"

He threw on his helmet and dropped his skateboard onto the pavement. He jumped on and **chase** d after Sledge's minion. As Chase rode on his board, his started gaining his focus back. The pain from whatever the minion had shot him with faded away.

"That feels better." Chase said with a smile. That was one good thing towards him.

He pulled out his Dino Com out of his back pocket. "Guys, I'm going to need some backup." He didn't wait for a response as he put the Com back in his pocket and put all of his attention on gaining ground on the thief.

"Come on. Faster." Chase quickly glanced around him. Nobody was on the street at the moment. Perfect time to morph. "Energize!" He instantly morphed into the Black Ranger as he continued in his pursuit of the minion. "Let's do this."

* * *

 

Tyler, Shelby, Riley and Koda had just opened up the cafe, since they were on the morning shift. The process went off without a hitch. However, no one had entered in within the first fifteen minutes of opening. It was then that all of their Dino Coms went off.

"Guys, I'm going to need some backup."

It was Chase. Tyler switched over to the channel that Miss Morgan would be on. "Miss Morgan?"

"Head on out. I'll center in on Chase and give you a location as you get out there."

"Got it." Tyler answered, putting away his Com along with everyone else putting away theirs.

"Let go." Koda urged everyone.

They didn't hesitate and left the cafe, with Tyler making sure to close it up until Miss Morgan could get some other workers in to run it.

Angela too heard Chase's call of assistance on her own Com, that Miss Morgan had made for her to carry around. She had no excuse now. She would have to engage in the fight since all of them would know that she would hear the call. This day could go smoothly or roughly. Angela wasn't sure on smoothly, having had the nightmare just the previous night. She hoped the nightmare would not make its way into reality as she picked up her lightsabers and ran out of the cave. At that moment, Kendall had pinpointed Chase's location and sent it to everyone's Coms.

It was happening. She was going to fight with the Rangers this time around.

"Well, if I'm going to fight, then I will have to keep balanced. Use my lightsabers mostly. May the Force be with me...for once."  

* * *

Spellbinder chuckled to himself as he ran towards a storage building. "I'll lose that punk in here."

Chase stopped himself as he looked to see Spellbinder going into the building.

"There he is." He got off his skateboard, leaving it outside as he walked towards the building. "I've got to find out what he's up to."

A few steps towards the building and Chase had to stop. The pain was back and steadily getting worse. "There's that weird feeling again." It felt as if that shot from Spellbinder was starting to cloud his thoughts.

"I have to stop Sledge's goon to get back Moana's pendant. And find out just what that creep did to me." Chase slid under the ajar door and spotted Spellbinder running around some empty wooden pallets in the place.

"Stop right there!" Chase let two shots fire from his Morpher.

They hit the target. Unfortunately, Spellbinder's cape had blocked both shots effectively, leaving him without a scratch. He turned around to see that the punk that had been chasing him was a Ranger. Spellbinder had luck on his side today. Who would've thought that the teenager that he had hit with the pendant's magic was one of the Rangers?

"So you're the Black Ranger?" He asked rhetorically. He saw the Black Ranger unsteadily approach him. He knew that the magic was already causing the Ranger to lose his focus. "Relax. Soon, you will under the control of the great Spellbinder."

"Wrong." Chase was determined to stop Spellbinder from getting away with Moana's pendant. He fired two more shots as he ran full speed towards Spellbinder, jumping over the many crates and containers in his direct path. "No one controls me, mate."

"Are you in for a surprise."

Chase kept gaining ground on Spellbinder as he thought briefly on what he had said. _What does he mean by that? Don't tell me that shot from that pendant has the ability to control minds._ _I won't let it happen. No way!_  

The Black Ranger had reached Spellbinder, who hadn't moved from his original spot. It was as if Spellbinder had the upmost confidence in himself and didn't find the Ranger a threat at all. Chase would soon teach him not to be so fast in underestimating any Ranger.

"Wrap your beak around this." Chase pulled the trigger back and held it there. The Morpher released a relentless barrage of energy blasts directly at Spellbinder. Surely that would put Spellbinder out of commission.

Unfortunately, Spellbinder had completely surrounded himself in his cape again, blocking all of the shots. With a quick swing outwards from Spellbinder's arms, the cape deflected the last few of the shots back at the Black Ranger.

All of the shots hit Chase at once as the explosion of energy sent him flying back several feet onto the cold concrete floor of the building. Even though his Ranger armor took all of the damage, the force from the blast made him hit the floor hard. He groaned as he attempted to get back up. As he did, the pain that had been dull during his fight with Spellbinder came back instantly. It was agonizing as Chase felt it filling his head. He couldn't think as the crippling pain suddenly began to throb like a heartbeat. He couldn't focus.

"Chase!" Tyler ran up from behind Chase, along with Koda, Shelby and Riley.

They had already morphed into their Ranger forms, knowing that Chase would have already engaged in a fight. All of them saw Chase lying on the ground, groaning as he held his head, as well as he could since he had on his Ranger helmet. They didn't know how to help Chase and could only worry for him as they prepared for a fight.

Tyler had anger along with worry swelling within him. It showed in his words. "Monster, you may be tough one-on-one, but your odds just got a whole lot worse."

He pulled out a charger and clicked it onto his Morpher.

**_T-Rex Charger, engage!_  **

The other Ranger knew what to do and followed Tyler's action. They all spun the barrel of the Morphers on the right arms.

"Dino Steel! Armor on!" They all shouted together in unison. Their armor and weapons materialized into their hands.

Tyler was first to rush at Spellbinder. He threw a punch with his T-Rex Smasher, which Spellbinder dodged with ease.

Shelby attempted a jab with her Tricera Drill but Spellbinder parried the attack, sending her stumbling backwards.

Koda and Riley put Spellbinder between them and went for a simultaneous attack with their Stego Shield and Raptor Claw respectively. Spellbinder threw himself backwards, causing the Blue and Green Rangers to hit each other with their weapons.

"Too slow." Spellbinder teased.

The Pink Ranger jumped towards Spellbinder again with her Tricera Drill. She plunged it at Spellbinder, who simply deflected the weapon and the Pink Ranger away once more. The Red Ranger attempted to throw another punch, this time with Spellbinder's back turned towards him. It was as pointless as the first one since Spellbinder again evaded the strike. The Red Ranger lost his footing and fell onto the floor.

"He's so fast." Shelby pointed out.

"His cape hard like rock." Koda added.

"We've got to get through it." Shelby answered.

"Good thing I'm the hotshot." Everyone including Spellbinder turned to see the Black Ranger had managed to get his pain under control enough to stand and aim his Morpher directly at the pendant on Spellbinder's chest. "That's right, Spellbinder. I'm not gonna miss this time."

"Get him, Chase." Tyler shouted at his friend. Chase obliged by firing at Spellbinder.

Again Spellbinder deflected the attacks with his cape as the Red Ranger tried to land a single hit on him.

This was getting rather boring for Spellbinder. Perhaps it was time to alter the stakes. Besides, he had to see how far along the black magic had grown in the Black Ranger.

"Time for change your target, Black Ranger." Spellbinder grabbed onto the Red Ranger, locking him into inescapable hold in his cape.

Tyler couldn't wait for Chase to hit Spellbinder with his Morpher shot. He knew Chase's skill with the Morpher was unmatched with the others. He had this. "Take the shot, Chase. I trust you."

Chase grabbed onto the Morpher with both hands to steady it. _Gotta be careful. It's so risky._

"Hurry!" Tyler called out.

This was the opportunity. The timing couldn't be better. It was time to test out the pendant's power. "Shoot your friend, Black Ranger. I command you."

Spellbinder's words echoed in Chase's head. The focus he had in his aim at the pendant shifted. Now, the Morpher was pointed at the center of the Red Ranger's chest. The pain that had been consuming him had vanished...but it had been replaced with apathy towards his own thoughts. Instead of listening to himself, he was listening to Spellbinder.

"What's happening to me?" Chase's words were a little more than a whisper that only he heard.

"Chase," Tyler's voice caught in his throat. "What are you doing?"

"I..." Chase forced himself to raise his aim off of Tyler and back onto the pendant on Spellbinder. "I don't know."

"Shoot him!" Spellbinder ordered.

Chase's aim once again fell on Tyler. He couldn't believe what he was doing. _I didn't do that! Or...did I? ....no. No! I didn't do that! I can't be doing this. But I'm pointing the Morpher at Tyler. So..I did do it._

"Chase, no!" Koda yelled at his friend.

"No!" Riley shouted.

"Chase!" Shelby said.

 _All of my friends are telling me to stop but I can't! Why can't I stop?_ The Morpher shook in his grasp as Chase tried to fight away whatever was trying to take him over.

"I can't control myself." Chase was fighting an invisible force within his mind. He tried to reaffirm that he was in control, not it. It was ancient. It was vile. It was merciless. It did not care what Chase felt or believed. It would complete its task for the one wielding the pendant.

**_Kill the Red Ranger._ **

_No. I won't do it._

**_YOU don't have a choice. All you can do is give in, instead of wasting your time in fighting a battle you will eventually lose._ **

_I won't let you-_

**_Enough._ **

_...._

**_Pull. the. trigger._ **

Chase lost. He pulled the trigger.

The world seemed to move in slow motion for everyone as the shot ignited and traveled out of the Morpher. It was going to hit Tyler without hesitation.

That is when a lightsaber was thrown in the path of the shot, the blast hitting the blade of the weapon and deflecting off to an area that had nothing but storage containers there. The lightsaber was called back from its throw as the owner caught it in their hands.

Chase had been frozen in place. He couldn't believe that he had pulled back on the trigger. He would have killed Tyler had Angela not shown up and intervened when she did. Once again, the pain that had disappeared returned as his mind fought violently to comprehend the situation. Chase yelled furiously at himself and at the agony that he felt pulsating in his head. Everything that had just happened, what he had done, what he was feeling compounded upon each other. His mind couldn't take it anymore and he lost consciousness, causing both him and his Morpher to collapse to the floor.

"Chase!" Koda shouted.

"No!" Riley yelled.

"This can't be happening." Shelby whispered to herself.

Angela looked at Chase's unconscious form. She could sense through the Force a malicious energy within him. It was the same energy that was coming from the pendant. Angela had experienced this time of energy before...in her nightmare.

Spellbinder had to deal with Angela immediately before his plan fell completely apart. He loosened his hold on the Red Ranger and threw him clear across the other side of the building. "You just had to show up, didn't you?"

"Of course." She answered coldly.

"No matter. Sledge already warned me about your kind. Go ahead. Just try to land a hit on me!"

Angela accepted the offer. She dashed forward and engaged Spellbinder in a one-on-one fight. She hoped that it give the others enough time to get Chase and leave. She knew better though. They would gather themselves up and help her out. Until then, she would keep swinging her lightsaber at Spellbinder, hoping that she would deal him some damage.

Spellbinder parried and dodged all of the Jedi's attacks fluently. He had been warned by Sledge about this Jedi and how he wanted her, preferably alive. If that wasn't possible, he wanted her corpse. Spellbinder would take up the former option. Besides, he had a pendant that could take control over minds. Why not have control of the mind of a legendary Jedi as well? With her under his control, Spellbinder could even take Sledge on and win. He could use her to subjugate planet after planet given time. With that thought in mind, Spellbinder shoved Angela back and bolted towards the entrance she had appeared in. "You know what this pendant can do. Come and get it before I use it on someone else!"

Angela did just that. She ran out the entrance and turned left, where Spellbinder had ran off to. She stopped suddenly when she didn't see him at all.

 _That doesn't make sense. He couldn't have disappeared that fast unless-_ Angela spun around in time to see Spellbinder use the pendant. It shot out its purple stream of dark magic and hit Angela in her eyes. She paused mentally.

"What just happened?" She could feel the dark magic in her mind but that was it. It wasn't causing her any pain and she believed that it wasn't affecting her thoughts in any way. Instead, she felt nothing. A nothing that was just a feeling that had no affect on her thoughts.

Spellbinder laughed victoriously. "You too will become like the Black Ranger and fall to the power of this pendant."

Angela was about to run towards Spellbinder to engage in another fight, but he disappeared though in a black, murky cloud that was more or less the same type of dark magic that the pendant held. Angela deactivated her lightsaber and ran back into building to check on everyone.

Tyler, Riley, Koda and Shelby were finally back on their feet and helping Chase to stand. He was slowly gaining consciousness as his friends kept asking how he was feeling. He was silent. And since they all had their Ranger gear on, Chase's helmet concealed the blank stare he possessed. His thoughts were starting to come back in pieces. He started becoming angry as he remembered that he had tried to kill Tyler. He looked over to see Angela had returned from fighting Spellbinder. He could tell that she wasn't successful in retrieving the pendant. His anger was now coupled with frustration; and they were both directed at him.

_I almost killed Tyler. I couldn't stop myself but I wanted- No! I didn't...did I? This is all my fault. If I hadn't of stayed up so late and had paid attention, that monster wouldn't have stolen that damn pendant. He wouldn't have used it on me and I wouldn't be like this._

"Chase," Tyler rested a hand on his shoulder. "Are you alright? What happened back there?"

Chase brushed off Tyler's comforting hand. "Hey, just...give me some space, mate."

"Huh?" Tyler, along with the other Rangers, was perplexed.

"Hey, guys."

All of the Rangers turned to face Angela.

"Sledge's goon used that pendant. He hit me with it but something is weird about it. It feels like dark magic. We need to get back to the base and have Keeper figure out what's going on. With both myself and you, Chase."

"You...you can sense it in me?" Chase questioned, slightly hopeful that Angela might be able to help him if she was experiencing a different effect.

"Yeah. I can. And I fear it's going to get worse. Let's head back to the base and get this figured out."

All of them agreed and began their journey back to the base. They couldn't afford to waste another second. Chase was starting to lose himself. He could feel the malicious energy inside his mind. Angela felt it inside her head too. Yet, it was not having an effect at all from what she knew of. The others were worried for both Chase and Angela, while also uncertain of how they were going to defeat Spellbinder once he would return.

Time certainly was not on their side.

* * *

Spellbinder had returned to Sledge's ship. He already had his plan set in motion and time was on his side. Soon, he would have both the Black Ranger and the Jedi that Sledge had warned him about. Two birds, one stone as he had heard several times before. He was very pleased in what he had accomplished in such a short amount of time. However, Sledge didn't see it that way.

"Spellbinder!" Sledge shoved him forcefully into the middle of the room. "You said, once you had that pendant, the Rangers and the Jedi would fall under your spell. Instead, they're still fighting you." Sledge looked over at Fury and Wrench while pointing at Spellbinder. "Lock him in solitary!"

"Yes, sir." Fury and Wrench moved in and apprehended the failed prisoner. 

"No, not solitary." Spellbinder struggled to get out of Fury's and Wrench's grip before they could drag him to solitary. "Both the Black Ranger and the Jedi are under my spell, but it takes time to grow. Once it does, they will help me to bring all of the other Rangers under your command."

Sledge motioned for both Fury and Wrench to cease in dragging Spellbinder to solitary. "Just get me one Ranger and you'll be free, Spellbinder."

Spellbinder broke free of Fury and Wrench, both of who were no longer going to hold onto him anyway. "I can do that."

"But if you get none, I'll pluck you for dinner." Sledge warned him of the consequence before trudging out of the room.

"Oh, dear." Spellbinder mumbled under his breath.

* * *

Everyone was finally back at the base. Keeper and Kendall were given a summarized explanation as to what happened. Keeper got to work with examining both Chase and Angela for what exactly Spellbinder had shot them with, using the pendant that he had stolen. Kendall was working in the lab part of the base on the newest weapon that the Rangers would have in their arsenal. As she worked on the finishing touches to it, Tyler, Shelby and Tyler were on the opposite side of the work table giving finer details of what they saw to her.

"He blocked every shot with that cape." Riley said, frustrated that a piece of cloth had stopped every attack they had throw at Spellbinder.

"None of our weapons could break through it." Shelby added.

"And that is why you have me." Kendall gave them a quick smirk before focusing back on her work. She saw that it was finally finished and took it out of the tube it was in. "I give you the Dino Spike Charger. It should harness the power of all five of your Energems." She handed it to Tyler.

"Dino Spike? Perfect." Tyler knew Kendall's work was absolutely her best. The Dino Spike would surely work against Spellbinder's cape.

"Just know," Kendall repeated the key factor. "It takes all five Rangers to activate the Dino Spike."

All of them looked over to where Chase, Koda, Angela and Keeper were at. Kendall stayed at her lab, to finish up some coding work while the others went to join their friends.

Keeper was using his staff to figure out what was inside of Chase first, then he would move to Angela. Koda sat near them. He was worried for his friends and he couldn't do anything except be there for them. As Keeper intensified the power in his staff, the dark magic in Chase was made more visible by Chase's eyes color changing to a fiery yellow for just a few moments.

"There is indeed something wrong here." Keeper stated calmly.

Once Keeper pulled his staff away, the pain from the dark magic returned. "It's in my head. I feel like I'm losing control of myself. But whatever he hit me with, it seemed to go away when I was on my skateboard."

"Hmmm." Keeper moved over to Angela, who was sitting next to Chase. It was time to see if Angela had the same symptoms as Chase. He noticed that she was thinking to herself about the situation. Something was bothering Angela and it was somehow tied to the situation. "Angela, is something troubling you?"

 Angela sighed. "Yes. While Chase is suffering from getting hit with whatever dark magic that pendant has, I'm sitting right next to him feeling just fine, even though I got hit with it too."

"You feel guilty."

"I guess, in a way."

"Let's see why it has not affected you as badly as it has Chase. It might help us figure out how to decrease its affects." Keeper readied his staff.

Angela nodded, signaling that she as ready. Keeper began to use the staff the same way he had used it on Chase. Everyone kept silent until Keeper quickly finished, almost as fast as he started.

"It seems as though the same dark power in Chase is not as powerful in you. In fact, another power inside you is diminishing it rapidly. It may be your connection to the Force that is doing this."

"Perhaps it is." She lied. She knew it wasn't the Force. She would be able to feel it if was the Force. Instead, she felt nothing. An abnormal form of nothing. She had felt it before but it was more of an inconvenience she could shrug off now. This was at the forefront of all of the emotions she could be having.

"I wish I knew how I was doing it so that I could help you out, Chase." Angela was truthful in that statement.

Chase nodded silently before another wave of sharp pain pierced through his head. He was starting to get tired of fighting it. He just wish he could get rid of it like any other headache he ever had. Drink some water, take an ibuprofen and sleep it away.

"The spell will grow stronger until it controls you completely, Chase." Keeper said. "Perhaps if you knew the origin of the pendant."

"Moana." Chase quickly stood and was punished by the pounding in his mind intensifying.

Koda grabbed onto Chase's wrist so that he couldn't take a step in any direction. Riley gently pushed down on Chase's shoulders, easing him back down to his seat.

Chase didn't fight them. He sat back down and focused on telling everyone what he knew. "Moana will know where it came from. She should be back at her shop by now."

"You mean lady of the black magic?" Koda asked.

"She is not a lady of black magic. Trust me, Moana is on our side. She'll know how to stop this."

Tyler was already set to go to Moana's shop. However, he knew Chase would want to come along. "Stay here. We'll go and ask her how to break the spell."

"I'll stay here too." Angela said. "I won't trust myself until it's completely gone from my system."

Tyler nodded in agreement then looked at the others. "Let's go see Moana."

Riley, Koda, Shelby and Tyler left the base. It was just Keeper, Kendall, Chase and Angela now. Chase quickly decided that he didn't want to stay put. He quickly got up to leave as well.

"Chase, stop." Keeper spoke. Chase stopped but didn't turn around to face Keeper. "You're more of a danger than a help to them right now. You must stay."

He turned around to look at Keeper. "If only I had stayed focused on the shop. Spellbinder never would have gotten that pendant."

"You can't change the past, but you can learn from it."

Chase nodded subtly at Keeper before he left Chase to see how Kendall was doing in her lab work.

Angela knew he was still thinking about leaving the base. If he was going to do that, then she was going to keep an eye on him by distracting him. Besides, this was the perfect time to ask him about something she had wanted to ever since meditating with his Energem.

Angela stood up from her seat. "Hey, I'm heading up to the cafe for a while, since it's closed for the day. I'm going to make myself some food but, knowing me, I'll probably make too much. Want to share it with me?"

Chase vaguely gave her a nod, which received a slight smirk from her in return. He followed her out of the base and up to the empty cafe. It would just be the two of them for a bit. Even though he wanted to be alone, he knew nobody was going to leave him to himself, especially since he was slowly and surely losing the fight inside his mind.

"I'll just throw something together real quick." She waited for another silent nod from Chase before heading into the kitchen.

Even though she didn't work there, she had a rough idea of where certain items were from watching the Rangers work in there. She had learned that being observant usually benefitted her in one way or another. Her only problem was that she had no idea how to cook anything. Nothing hot for the two of them. She decided that the common "chips and salsa" snack would do. She gathered the chips and salsa, pouring out a decent amount of both into two separate bowls. She also decided on drinks for both of them. Of course, she didn't have enough hands to carry the drinks and snacks at once, so she used the Force to levitate them back to the booth that Chase had sat down at.

He lifted his head up when she slid into the seat on the opposite side of the booth. His spirit seemed to lighten up a bit at the sight of the food and drink she had brought out. "Thanks."

"Don't mention it."

Both of them take a few bites of their food in silence. Angela waited for Chase to speak if he wanted to. But, he didn't. He kept to himself, with his gaze down at the table. Angela figured that she would have to start a conversation. She already had something that they could both talk about. Hopefully, Chase would focus on that instead of mentally putting himself down for one mistake he made.

"You know I didn't just ask you up here to share food with me, right?"

"Yeah." Chase piped up and actually looked up from the table. "I figured you wanted to keep an eye on me, in case I would lose control of myself."

"Partially. However, there was something else I wanted to talk to you about."

"What is it?"

"Remember when I was focusing on everyone's Energems, to see if any of them were the one I felt in my vision from years ago?"

"Yeah?"

"Well, when I focused the Black Energem, I didn't feel the same thing that I had in the vision. Instead, I felt your...character, I guess you could say."

"My character?" Chase wondered. "Did you feel the others' characters too?"

"In a way, yes. I believe so. But, yours was slightly unique."

Chase kept silent, knowing that Angela would explain it as best as she could to him.

"I felt that you love someone. Someone that is younger than you. Not in the romantic way. It was more like-" She struggled to get the word out. "...family?"

Chase chuckled as he realized who she was talking about. "Chloe."

"Chloe?"

"Yeah. Chloe. She's my little sister. She's back home in New Zealand with our mother."

Angela cheered mentally. She could read from Chase's returned smile that she had been successful in taking his mind off of mentally yelling at himself for losing the pendant.

"Could you tell me what she is like?"

Chase nodded as he started to tap his fingers on the table, a small sign of that he was slowly getting anxious again. "Chloe is the best sister any big brother could have. She asks me about how many things, whether it's about a new game I downloaded on my phone or if I have a girlfriend yet."

"Sounds like she cares a lot for you."

"Yes. Sometimes a bit too much. Worrying should be my job."

"Why?" Angela asked honestly.

"Because I'm her older brother. I love her and want her to have the best life possible. She shouldn't have to worry about me. She should just enjoy the fun of being a kid while she still is one."

It was now Angela's turn to lower her gaze to the table. She believed that Chase was being completely truthful and clear in his answer. It was just hard for Angela to comprehend. _The fun of being a kid?_

Chase noticed that she was thinking to herself. "Are you alright?"

Angela gave him a smile. "Now Chase, you shouldn't be worried about me. You should just enjoy being a Ranger while you still are one."

He laughed at the comeback. "Funny."

It was then he felt the magic suddenly surge in power. His focus was starting to waver and his thoughts were starting to fade away. He couldn't withstand another mental battle. He was already exhausted from keeping himself from being consumed by it. He only had one last barrier that could keep him from leaving the museum and doing whatever Spellbinder wanted him to.

"Angela, can you do me a favor?"

"Of course." She welcomed the request. "What do you need?"

"Need..." Chase winced and rested his head into both of his hands.

"Chase?" Angela reached across the table with the Force. She felt the dark energy intensifying at an alarming rate. "Chase, stay with me."

"I want to-" He trailed off and lurched forward across the table, grabbing roughly onto Angela's left wrist. "But I'm afraid...I must obey my master." He slowly looked up at Angela....with yellow eyes.

Angela didn't react in time and was yanked out from the booth, landing on the floor. She shuffled to her feet and put some distance between her and Chase, in case he tried for another attack. She pulled out her Dino Com and opened up the channel. Before she could utter a single word, her Com flew from her hand, landing as a mangled mesh of metal and wires on the Cafe floor. Angela looked over near the booth to see that Chase had shot her Com with his Morpher.

"It seems that something inside of you was able to push out the pendant's magic. That means that you get off scot-free. Congratulations."

Angela froze. The last statement was nearly identical to what Chase had said in her nightmare. But now she knew the nightmare had been a premonition of the future. And if that was the case, Chase wouldn't be the only one that would be completely lost to Spellbinder using the pendant. She would have to stall Chase and make sure he couldn't leave. Her only problem was that she cared too much. She didn't want to hurt him, which meant no lightsaber brandishing. It would just be defensive maneuvers and Force tricks.

"If you think I'm going to let you walk out of here Chase, you are wrong."

"Oh, in that case." Chase let a barrage of shots fire from his Morpher.

Lucky for Angela, she knew that attack was coming. She kicked the table in front of her and ducked down behind it for cover. She peeked out from one of the sides to see Chase turning around and heading towards the main entrance of the cafe. She called upon the Force, throwing several tables and chairs in front of the doorway, blocking Chase's first choice of an escape route.

"Come out from behind that table, Jedi." Chase fired more shots at the downed table in an attempt to force Angela out.

"Chase, I've told both you and the others I'm not a Jedi or a Sith." Angela picked up her cover of a table and used her power to throw it just off to the side of Chase. For the split moment that Chase had his focus on the thrown table, Angela ran towards him in an attempt to subdue him.

Out of the corner of his eye, Chase saw Angela quickly closing the distance between them. His reflexes kicked in. He swung his arm out swiftly, backhanding Angela in the face with his Morpher. She stumbled back, opening herself up to a point blank shot from Chase's Morpher. He aimed for the middle of her chest and pulled back on the trigger.

Angela brushed off the hit from the Morpher and quickly moved to the side and dodged the shot. She grabbed onto Chase's wrists and forced him to aim his Morpher towards the ceiling. "Please focus, Chase."

It was pointless. He heard her but felt nothing towards it. He jabbed his knee up into Angela's midsection, making her losing her grip on his wrists and collapsing on the floor trying to catch her breath. He took this opportunity to book it out of the cafe, using the backdoor that was in the kitchen to exit the museum. He slowed down his run to a fast-paced walk once he was outside. His mind-controlled self believed that he lost Angela in the cafe.

He was wrong yet again.

Angela managed to get to her feet and catch her breath as she ran after Chase. As soon as she was out of the backdoor, she saw him walking away rather casually. _He thinks he lost me._ Angela centered herself. She felt the Force around her and pulled it towards her. She used it to dash faster than it was normally possible. There was no way Chase would get away.

This time she was wrong.

 Chase spun on his heels, raised his Morpher and fired. He stood in place as Angela went from a full run to a walk. Her right hand instinctively went to her lower torso, where Chase's shot had hit. He watched as she stopped walking and fell to her knees. He witnessed her breathing becoming louder and heavier. He looked on as she completely fell onto the pavement in silence.

That was the end of the fight. He put his Morpher away and continued in the direction that his master ordered him to get to. He soon forgot about what had happened to Angela, since he felt no emotion at all. All he knew was to obey his master's orders.

* * *

 

Tyler, Shelby, Riley and Koda had all hopped into Tyler's Jeep and went quickly but safely to Moana's shop. Pulling into the front parking lot, they see that the shop was open for business. Moana was definitely back. All of them head in and were immediately greeted by Moana with a smile. Her smile soon faded though when she saw that the four teenagers did not return a smile to her. This soon led to the four of them explaining everything that had happened, from the pendant getting stolen by a monster to Chase getting hit with the magic that was inside the stolen pendant.

Moana went to one of the many full bookshelves and pulled out a book. Placing it on the counter between her and the teenagers, she quickly flipped through it. All of the pages were full of etchings of both pictures of objects, symbols, and words. A page was soon reached, a drawing of the pendant taking up the upper half of the page.

"Oh, this is the pendant that was stolen. It was forged from an evil heart in the darkest corner of New Zealand." Moana began to move out slowly from behind the counter, edging closer and closer to the teenagers. "Destroy it, or soon Chase will forget he's your friend and turn against you."

"We have a weapon that might be strong enough." Tyler told her. "But it won't work without Chase."

"If he can focus, Chase can push the spell from his mind long enough to use your weapon."

Everyone heard the words from Moana but mentally shook their heads at the thought.

"Hm, I doubt it."Riley chuckled.

"Chase has the attention span of a flea." Shelby commented.

Moana knew Chase could focus. She had seen it before. "Long ago, your friend Chase proved to me that he can focus, very deeply, even in the most dire situations. It happened one day, just as I was closing my shop."

* * *

_Chase was outside Moana's shop, sitting on the bench near the building. He was buckling his helmet on, preparing for a nice, long ride on his skateboard._

_Moana pushed out her baby carriage, before turning around to close the door to the shop. "Ooh, better lock up." As she did this, she heard the sound of squeaking wheels slowly getting farther from her. She turned to see that her baby carriage was already rolling out of the tiny parking lot and down a gently declining sidewalk of the city. "Oh, Tabitha!"_

_Chase looked to see that a baby carriage was quickly rolling out of control. He didn't hesitate to jump up and hop onto his skateboard to chase it down, before something serious would happen to Tabitha._

_The carriage continued to gain speed as it rolled down the declining sidewalk. It kept on a straight path, allowing for Chase to focus on just picking up speed to catch up with it. He weaved around people and jumped over several tables of an outdoor restaurant. "Excuse me, coming through."_

_The carriage ran out of sidewalk and rolled into the middle of the street. It had no sentience towards anything, especially the large garbage truck that was about to run it over._

_Chase only had one chance to get this right. Using his momentum, he jumped up with his board and flew over the carriage, quickly grabbing onto the blankets that swaddled the precious life. His board landed on the opposite side of the street, and he abruptly stopped and turned to see the truck completely destroy the carriage._

_All Chase could do was breathe a sigh of relief, his adrenaline beginning to slow down after the heart-pounding situation he threw himself in. He held the bundle of blankets close to his chest and headed back to Moana's shop._

_Moana gasped as she gently took the bundle from his arms. She pulled back the blanket to reveal the face of her cat._

_"Oh, Tabitha! Oh, you're safe." Moana hugged her cat lovingly._

_Chase stared at the cat. His mind connected the dots as he felt that the risk was not as necessary as it seemed. "I...I just risked my life for-" Moana's gaze met his and he quickly gave her his natural, innocent smile. "The most beautiful little kitty."_

_Moana grabbed onto his hand. "Come into my shop. There's something I must give you for your bravery."_

_As Chase was nearly dragged into her shop, he shook his head at the idea. "Oh. You really don't have to do that."_

_Moana didn't hear him. Her mind was on the gift she would bestow on Chase. Once she pulled him into the shop, she went to a glass case and pulled out a small, wooden box._

_"Such courage is rare. And deserves something equally as precious."_

_Chase eased his helmet off of his head, holding it down by his side. Moana opened the box to reveal a gem that was solid black. He had never seen a pure black gem. Most gems he saw in person were either clear and expensive or cloudy and cheap._

_"What is that?" Chase asked._

_"Take it." Moana insisted. "It's yours."_

_Chase was hesitant to pick it up but did so anyway. As soon as his fingers touched the gem, it glowed intensely. The light flowed from the gem and encompassed Chase, who could only silently look on in amazement at what the gem was doing and at the empowering feeling that coursed through his body. Then, an image filled both his sight and his mind. A dinosaur. The Parasaur._

* * *

After hearing Moana's testament to Chase being able to have focus, the teenagers all felt that they may have been quick to discredit what Chase could do. They also knew now how the Black Energem was found.

"So that's how Chase got his Energem." Riley stated.

Moana nodded silently with a smile.

"It's so easy for him. I froze in glacier for thousands of years." Koda was in amazement, realizing that everyone found their Energems so easily and got to use them right away.

Everyone chuckled at Koda's blunt statement. The mood was lightened ever so briefly and soon ended as Tyler's Dino Com beeped. As he answered it, Moana summed up Chase's capability to focus.

"When he's on his skateboard, Chase can push everything else from his mind."

"That's right." Shelby said. "He said the spell went away when he was on his board."

Tyler walked back to the group once he finished the call from Kendall. "Kendall said Spellbinder's returned. And Chase...he's disappeared. She also said Angela isn't answering her Com either." He looked to Moana. "Thanks for your help, Moana."

All of them left Moana's shop and headed off to the coordinates that Tyler had received from Kendall. Tyler asked Kendall to keep them posted on Angela, hoping that they could contact her and get her help with this fight. Kendall said she would let them know as soon as she found Angela and would send her their way.

* * *

The first thing she felt was cold. Cold and pain. Her thoughts began to come back to her as she felt the cold, rough surface of the pavement under her and the dull, throbbing pain in her lower abdomen.

She remembered what happened.

She had to get back to the base and tell the others before it was far too late. Before someone else was seriously hurt...or worse. She pushed herself up from the ground and walked back towards the museum, heading for the secret slide into the base. Each step she took caused the dull pain to shoot throughout her body.

"Man, I'm going to have a lot of explaining to do to Kendall." She let out of moan as she realized that she had to deal with Kendall. "She not going to be too happy about my Com getting destroyed. I only had it a day."

_That's going to be the easy thing to explain though. First, deal with the reaction you're going to receive._

Angela reached the secret entrance and slid down the slide, focusing all of her attention to making sure she landed sounding on both feet. Already she felt the anger swelling in Kendall as she walked over to her.

"Where have you been? I've been calling you on...your-" She trailed off when she saw that Angela was holding onto her left side. She looked up at Angela and froze when she saw her face. "Angela, your eyes..."

"They're aren't blue. They're blood red, right?"

Kendall could only nod and ask one question. "What happened to you?"

"Ask that again in a minute. Right now, I need to contact the others." She moved around Kendall and went directly to the mic that was linked to the Dino Coms.

She pressed a button and saw on a tiny screen in front of her that Tyler had immediately picked up.

"What's going on, Kendall?" Tyler's voice asked on the other end.

"Not Kendall. It's Angela. Listen carefully. Chase is completely under Spellbinder's control. He won't hesitate in attacking you. Be extra cautious of his attacks and think through every move you make."

"We're heading towards the coordinates Kendall gave us now. We'll meet you there."

"No. No, you won't. I have to set this one out. I'll explain once you're back at the base." She paused briefly, fighting back the Dark Side for just a few moments. "I'm sorry. I can't help you with this one."

"You've helped plenty. Don't worry. We've got this."

Angela nodded to herself. _They do have this._ "Well, this may not mean much, but may the Force be with all of you."

"Thanks." Tyler replied before clicking his Com off.

There was only one second of silence before Kendall reworded her question from earlier. "Angela, are you alright?"

"Yeah, from a certain point of view."

"Where's your Dino Com?"

"Shot to hell. Just like my side has been."

"Chase?"

"No. Chase was not in control of himself. The blame falls on Spellbinder."

"How are you still standing?"

"The Force."

"Light or Dark?"

Angela thought for a moment before answering. "Both."

"You have so much to explain."

"I know. Let me sit down and explain it the best I can, before I take a very long nap."

* * *

Three villains were waiting in the same building that had been a fighting ground earlier. Wrench and Curio had accompanied Spellbinder on the second part of his mission, by order of Sledge. Curio waited patiently. Spellbinder was calm as well. Wrench didn't share the feeling.

"You told Sledge that the Black Ranger and the Jedi were under your control." Wrench kicked several boxes out of frustration. He did not see either one nearby. 

Spellbinder casually stood from his seat, with Curio mimicking the action. "Relax," Spellbinder urged Wrench. "They will be joining us soon."

"Wrong on both accounts." Tyler shouted as he and his friends stared down the three villains in front of them.

"Chase and Angela never join you." Koda stated boldly.

Spellbinder knew the odds were in his favor. He had used the pendant on a Ranger and a Jedi. This battle would be pathetically short. "It's too late for your friends. And now your time is up." Throwing his cape back, Spellbinder let several blasts from the pendant fly towards the Rangers.

They all dodged the blasts and bolted towards Wrench, Curio and Spellbinder.

Shelby took on Curio by herself.

"You all will be under Spellbinder's control." Curio teased.

"Not a chance." Shelby cartwheeled out of Curio's reach.

"Hey! We're not done fighting yet."

"Oh, I know." Shelby noticed a board that had wheels. She kicked it and Curio accidentally stepped onto it, sending him falling into a pile of barrels and crates.

Riley and Koda targeted Wrench. Together they knew they could take him on.

"Face it, Rangers. You can't beat us."  Wrench easily parried Riley's attack while kicking Koda several feet away from him. "Don't even try." He threw Riley to the ground, about to stomp on him. Koda reacted quickly by jumping at Wrench and returning the kick from earlier. Wrench also fell into several barrels from the attack.

 The only person left to take on Spellbinder was Tyler. This wouldn't be a challenge for Spellbinder. Besides, his mind-controlled aces would soon be here.

"My spells are impossible to resist." Spellbinder grabbed onto his cape and blocked all of Tyler's throws and kicks.

"Nothing is impossible."

Spellbinder tried to sweep Tyler's feet out from under him but Tyler flipped over the attack. "We'll see about that." He was quite bored with fighting Tyler and used Tyler's momentum against him, causing him to lose his balance and stumble to the ground.

His friends also lost their battles and were thrown near him as well. All of them were slightly sore from the landing but immediately attempted to push themselves up off the ground. They weren't going to get anywhere like this.

"We've got to try the Dino Spike." Tyler stated.

Koda shook his head. "But...need Chase."

Curio and Wrench stood on either side of Spellbinder, ready to observe the plan Spellbinder would enact without interfering.

Spellbinder had enough fun. "Your turn!" He focused on each Ranger and fired a single shot for each one from the pendant. He was successful and hit all of them...expect for Shelby, who had dodged her shot and ducked around a stack of crates.

"Oh, no." Shelby looked over and saw that Koda, Riley, and Tyler had been hit, their eyes now glowing bright yellow.

"That's right, Rangers. You're mine now, just like your friend." Spellbinder motioned over at Chase, who had finally reached his master.

"Chase?" Shelby called out, hoping he would say something.

Spellbinder did a double take. "What? The Jedi isn't here? She must have used her "magic" to break the spell." It didn't matter to Spellbinder. The Jedi was not here which meant she was out of the picture. That left only one Ranger to deal with.

Spellbinder's mind then came up with a very evil idea. Sure, he was going to be out one Ranger to bring back to Sledge but four Rangers was good enough. "It's time to end this."

"What is your command?" Chase said without any feeling.

"Destroy her."

Chase slowly turned to look at who Spellbinder was pointing at. Sure enough, there was a girl around his age peering out from behind some crates. He had his orders and he wasn't about to disobey them.

Shelby stood frozen. Her friend was slowly walking closer to her, his piercing yellow eyes never once shifting their focus off of her.

"No, Chase!"

He took another step towards her.

"Fight it."

And another.

"Concentrate."

He shook his head at her attempts to sway him. "You defied my master." He reached behind him and swung his Morpher out, aiming it directly at Shelby. "I must obey." He kept walking closer to her. He wanted to make sure that his shot was point blank, so that he had no chance of missing his target.

Shelby glanced down at her friends. They were all struggling to fight off the spell. Angela wasn't here to help her out either. She was on her one for this one. She had one idea. It was risky and if it didn't work, she was as good as dead. It was the only thing she knew she could do at this point. Shelby bolted from her cover and ran over to a board that had wheels on it, like the one she had used earlier on Curio. She tossed it onto the ground and kicked it towards Chase. Luckily for her, the board slipped under his right foot. Unluckily though, she was trapped in a corner, surround by numerous crates and barrels. She prayed that the board would be enough for Chase to pull himself through.   

Chase was starting to lose his balance. He placed his other foot onto the board as he refocused the Morpher onto Shelby. It didn't matter whether he walking or rolled towards her. As long as he got within a foot of her, he would be able to complete his master's wish.

Spellbinder had remained standing in the same spot. He had the perfect spot to witness everything about to go down. However, he was growing rather impatient with the Black Ranger. He just wanted him to kill the girl already. "Destroy her! I command you!"

Chase heard the words but this time, he didn't agree with them. He couldn't focus on that. Instead, he focused on the fact that he was moving but his legs weren't. He knew this feeling. _I'm...on a skateboard?_ His mind instantly cleared. "What the hell?" He saw he was about to run right into Shelby and stopped himself by grabbing onto the barrel next to her.

He only looked at Shelby for second before spinning the board abound and aiming his Morpher at his new target. It was time to end this, once and for all.

"Command this." Chase smirked at Spellbinder. He was about to get revenge and it felt great.

Curio, Wrench, and Spellbinder all flinched. Spellbinder's sure-fire plan had failed. "No!"

Chase pulled the trigger. His aim was true. It hit the pendant dead center, the explosion sending Spellbinder, Curio and Wrench flying clear across the building and releasing the spell on Koda, Riley, and Tyler.

Chase took a moment to breathe. He then helped Shelby stand up. "Good on ya, Shelby. That was quick thinking."

Shelby smiled at him. "Good to have you back."   

"Thanks."

Koda, Riley, and Tyler ran up to them, all of them glad that Shelby and Chase were both alright. A quick glance around and Tyler asked, "Where'd he go?"

Wrench pulled himself out from a pile of rubble. "Oh, no. They've broken the spell. What should we do?"

Curio silently got up from the floor while Spellbinder did the same. Spellbinder was enraged. The pendant he had stole no longer working due to the Morpher blast.

"I may not be able to control you, but I'll still destroy you."

"Sorry," Chase was ready to finish Spellbinder permanently. "But your time is up. It's morphin' time! Dino Charger!"

They all pulled out their chargers. "Ready!"

"Energize! Unleash the power!" In an instant, they were in their Ranger forms, ready for the final fight.

"Let's do this." Chase shouted confidently.

"Dino Steel, armor on!" They shouted in unison. "Dinosaur Might, right to fight!"

"Power Rangers..." Tyler started.

"Dino Charge!" All of them finished.

 Wrench, Curio and Spellbinder didn't hesitate and ran towards the Rangers.

"It's about to get wild." The Red Ranger pointed out.

"Yeah!" The other Rangers agreed as all of them charged towards their enemies, their weapons out and ready to be used.

Koda and Riley had a score to settle with Wrench. They went after him with their Shield and Claw respectively.

Wrench had his battleaxe gripped tightly in his right hand. "Time to finish you both." 

Koda blocked all of Wrench's attack with his Stego Shield. Riley waited to slide under the Koda's arm and slashed Wrench's torso with his Raptor Claw. Then, he rolled out of the Koda's path.

"Stego Shield Punch!" The Blue Ranger put all of his caveman strength and power from his Energem into his throw, sending Wrench flying back several feet, more pissed off than ever. This was their chance. "Riley, go, now."

"On it." The Green Ranger ran and jumped up and off of the Blue Ranger's shoulders. "Raptor Slash!" The power of the Green Energem flowed into the Raptor Claw and explosively struck Wrench. He had been significantly weakened. 

"I wish I'd stayed with Poisandra." Curio whined as he regretted getting into another tangle with Shelby Only this time, Shelby had morphed into the Pink Ranger.

The Pink Ranger was easily going to win this one-on-one. Why not have a bit of fun in the process? She twisted around Curio and climbed up onto his shoulders. Her balance was perfect, allowing for her to stand confidentially on Curio. "Here. Up here."

Curio thrashed his arms wildly, trying to feel where the Pink Ranger could be. 'Where are you? Where are you?"

Here, hi." She mockingly waved down at Curio. It was time to end her fun. "Tricera Drill!" She jumped down and, while landing on the ground in front of Curio, slashed him with her Energem-charged Tricera Drill, which encompassed him in an explosive fireball.

That just left the Black and Red Rangers to deal with Spellbinder.

Chase was armed with his Para Chopper and Tyler had his T-Rex Smasher. The Black Ranger fired several shots from his Chopper, all of them being deflected easily by Spellbinder's cape.

"Bring it on, Rangers." Spellbinder taunted.

The Red Ranger went in with his Smasher. While the Black Ranger carefully took more shots wherever Spellbinder's cape allowed for an opening. None of normal shots hit Spellbinder. The Smasher was also hitting nothing but that damned cape.

To say that Chase was a little bit angry was an understatement. "Para Chopper Blast!" The Black Energem charged several shots and fired them from his Chopper. Spellbinder spun out of their line of fire.

Is that all you got?" Spellbinder mocked with a chuckle.           

"He keeps blocking with that cape." Tyler sighed in annoyance.

The other Rangers met up with the Chase and Tyler. "Guys," Riley spoke. "Let's use the Dino Spike."

"Kendall said we had to have all five of us together, right?" Tyler rhetorically asked.

"I'm ready if you are." Chase was set to get this fight over with.

"That's what I like to hear." Tyler smiled behind his Ranger helmet. He pulled out the Dino Spike Charger. "Dino Charger ready!" He clicked the Charger and threw the Charger into the air. "Weapons, combine!"

 All of the Rangers' weapons agreed at the command and left their owners' possession.

 ** _Dino Spike Charger, engage!_**    

The weapons came together and formed the spike. It was ready to be used.

The Black, Blue, Pink and Green Rangers grabbed onto each other's wrist, forming a platform. The Red Ranger jumped onto it. "Red Ranger, launch." They threw their arms up, launching their friend up into the air to grab onto the soaring Dino Spike.

"Dino Spike, final strike!" Tyler guided the weapon directly at Spellbinder and let it go.

Spellbinder thought that he would be quick enough to dodge the weapon. He was so wrong. The weapon hit him full force, its power overwhelming. "But I'm invincible!" He shouted in denial as he collapsed to the ground and was obliterated in a huge blast of fire.

"Wrong again, beat-face. We're the invincible ones." Tyler, along with his friends, sighed in relief. Spellbinder was defeated.

But of course, Spellbinder was not yet gone. And, Sledge was going to take advantage of Spellbinder once more before he was gone permanently.

"Out of the way." Sledge roughly threw a Vivix from his path and slammed down on the button for the Magna Beam.

The Magna Beam hit where Spellbinder had been and revived him. And also made him over fifty yards high. Even though his cape had been destroyed by the Dino Spike, he was going to win. There was no way the Dino Spike could put a scratch on him now.

The Rangers looked up at the returned threat. "Not again!" Tyler's heart sank. Their fight wasn't over.

Koda was more than ready for round two. "I'll handle this." He was about to run towards the giant Spellbinder when Chase threw his arm out to stop him.

"Wait. I've got a score to settle with this crow." Chase took out a fully powered Dino Charger and clicked it. "Summon Para Zord!" He hurled it into the air, allowing it to travel to the Zord without hesitation.

**_Para Charger, engage!_ **

The Para Zord roared boldly and quickly arrived to its needed destination. It saw the giant Spellbinder and fired several shots from its tail at him.

"You asked for it." Spellbinder backhanded the Zord, sending the Zord flying towards the T-Rex Zord, who had just arrived on scene. The T-Rex Zord caught the Para Zord by its tail and tossed him down to his side.

"I almost had him." Chase said.

"Chase," Tyler spoke up. "We all summoned our Zords too. How about we combine your Para Zord with the Dino Charge Megazord?"

Chase hesitated. He had wanted to take out Spellbinder for himself. He wanted to have the satisfaction. But then again, his Zord alone wasn't enough. "Well-"

"Come on." Tyler rested a hand on Chase's shoulder. "We'll have awesome new powers."

"Yeah!" Shelby agreed with Tyler's idea.

"Wait," Riley interjected. "I'm not sure about this. You really think we're ready?"

"You guys brought me out of that spell. Now it's time to return the favor." Chase accepted the idea with a friendly nudge at Tyler.

"Yeah!" Tyler nearly jumped at the answer. "Let's do this."

"Dino Charge Megazord, Para Raptor Formation." The Black, Green and Red Rangers commanded unanimously.

 ** _Zords, combine!_** The Para Zord, Raptor Zord and T-Rex Zord activated and formed the Megazord that the three Rangers requested.

**_Dino Charge Megazord, Para Raptor Formation. Ready!_ **

The three Rangers teleported into the Megazord and immediately set their sights on Spellbinder.

Chase just wanted this nightmare of an enemy to be completely gone from the universe. He had twisted his mind to hurt his friends. _He will pay for everything he has done._ Chase, along with Tyler and Riley, took out his Morpher and put it into the control console in front of him. "This bird brain is in for a surprise."

"Time to get charged up!" They all focused on the power of the their Energems and the Megazord. 

Spellbinder concentrated and created his attack. "Arrow feathers!" He motioned towards the Megazord and his feathers obeyed, flying rampantly at the Megazord.

The Rangers commanded the Megazord to side flip from the barrage of sharp feathers. They fired off several shots from the Megazord. Spellbinder groaned from the shots that hit him. 

"Here's some more." Tyler yelled at Spellbinder. "Sitting duck."

"Take this." Chase spoke.

"And this."Riley added.

Spellbinder screamed, unable to get away from the agonizing shots that kept pelting his body. He couldn't focus long enough to attempt another strike at the Megazord. He could only watch as the Megazord charged full speed and then jumped over him. "What is this?"

"Bladed Raptor Slash!" The Megazord delivered a downward strike from above.

"Now, you're under our command." Chase uttered to Sledge's dying minion. "And we command you to become extinct."

'"All right guys," Tyler grinned behind his helmet. This was the last moment of the fight. "Let's barbeque his chicken. "

All of them motioned in unison to activate their final move. "Para Zord, Fireball Finish." The Megazord created an enormous green ball of fire and struck it backhanded, sending it ceaselessly towards Spellbinder.

Spellbinder had no chance to dodge. No chance to parry. No chance to counterattack. He could only yell out a single word of an undeserving plea for mercy.

"Wait!"

The fireball exploded on impact. Spellbinder had been disintegrated into microscopic ash.

"May I?" Chase asked.

"Do it." Tyler nodded.

"Monster extinct."  

* * *

After sending their Zords away and demorphing, they all gave each other praises of accomplishment. Spellbinder was gone and so was that spell. No mind-controlled Rangers for Spellbinder and Sledge. Today or any other day. They all hopped into Tyler's jeep, since the four Rangers had drove there from Moana's shop in it. Tyler was driving, Shelby was in the passenger's seat and Riley, Chase and Koda were sitting in the back.

"Chase. You feel good?" Koda asked, wanting to make sure that his friend was alright.

"Yeah." He threw his caveman friend a smile. "I'm finally myself again. Thanks to you." He looked at everyone. "Thanks to all of you."

Tyler shrugged casually. "Hey. What are friends for but to save you from evil, bird-looking wizards that wield magical pendants?"

Everyone laughed as they realized that was exactly what happened. Plain and simple. As their laughter died down, Chase began thinking. He fell silent as he tried retracing his thoughts to the last thing he remembered. Something wasn't quite right. He was missing something important.

Riley noticed his silence and saw that he was trying to figure something out. "Hey, what's up?"

"I'm trying to remember what I was doing last, before I went completely under Spellbinder's control. I can't remember what it was."

"Maybe." Koda paused just briefly to think of the right words to use. "Maybe Angela has answer."

Chase was about to agree before it clicked. _Angela. Wait. I was talking with her. Yeah. I was talking with her in the Cafe and..._ It had just hit him. Angela had not fought with them against Spellbinder, Wrench or Curio. She hadn't been there at all. He wondered why...and then doubt and fear began creeping into his mind.

"Guys, where is Angela?"

"She's back at the base." Shelby turned around in her seat to look back at Chase. "She said she would explain why she didn't come when we got back."

"Oh. I hope she's alright."

"Why wouldn't she be?" Tyler asked, eyes still on the road ahead of him.

Chase shrugged. "I don't know. Just a feeling I guess."

In ten minutes, Tyler was parking his jeep at the loading dock of the museum. All of them got out and slid down into the base with ease. As they landed in the base they took their Energems off their cords and let them leave their hands for their place in the charging bay. Tyler was first, then Shelby, Riley, Koda and lastly Chase.  

"Nice job in defeating Spellbinder, everyone." Kendall walked around her lab to meet them in the middle of the room. "Were you able to get back Moana's pendant?"

"No." Chase answered. "It must have been destroyed along with Spellbinder. I'll have to go and tell Moana."

"Maybe it's better that it's destroyed." Shelby said. "With it gone, it can't be used like it was ever again."

Riley agreed with this too. "Moana did say it was forged from a dark heart. It wouldn't be logical for it to be used for good intentions."

"I glad it gone. No more...m-mind con-controlled friends." Koda said bluntly.

"It's a shame that Angela missed out on the fight." Tyler did a quick glance around the lab. "Where is she? She said she would explain why she didn't help us."

Kendall sighed and looked over towards the one side of the base that was made into a makeshift hangout spot. The Rangers followed her gaze and saw Angela lying flat on the sofa. She appeared to be sleeping soundly as she lied motionless under a simple beige blanket. They noticed that her denim jacket was hanging off one of the sofa's arms and her boots were resting at the same end that her jacket was at. It didn't sit right with them.

"She sleeping?" Koda asked, slightly knowing that it might be something else.

"Kind of." Kendall started. "Angela calls it a healing sleep. She told me that she would go into a very deep sleep that would heal her wound faster through her connection to the Force, than it would just normally."     

"Wound?" Tyler nearly cut off Kendall's explanation of the situation. "What wound?"

"She's hurt?" Shelby added.

"How bad is it?" Riley asked directly.

"Stop." Kendall threw her hands up. Everyone held on to their words and fell silently. "I'm going to explain this one part at a time. First, it's not bad. Even though she said so herself, I checked it out once she fell asleep just to make sure that she was correct."

Everyone sighed in relief. She would be alright. Now, they wanted to know how it happened.

"As for how she got the wound, it was here. Angela said she invited Chase to join her for a quick snack up in the Cafe. While she was talking to Chase, he went completely under Spellbinder's control."

Chase lowered his gaze. It made sense now. The last thing he remembered was being in the Cafe. He just didn't remember anything after that. He was putting two and two together as Kendall continued.

"Angela wanted to keep Chase at the base until all of you returned to help stop him from leaving, without hurting him. Unfortunately, she said that she underestimated the influence Spellbinder had on Chase and ended up taking a shot from Chase's Morpher."

"It was my fault."

Every awake person in the room stared at Chase. He still kept his gaze away from everyone else. The guilt was starting to set in. Even though he didn't remember shooting Angela, he felt responsible. It was his Morpher that he aimed at Angela. He pulled the trigger and hit it. Then, he just left to meet up with Spellbinder, just so he could draw his friends into the trap. He had nearly killed Shelby, had it not been for her quick thinking and a set of wheels screwed to a wooden board. To say that he was lucky was a sheer understatement.

"It's my fault that she is like this. I nearly killed her! I-" Chase felt Kendall slap him across his left cheek. He, along with everyone else, stood stunned.

"Angela told me that if you started to blame yourself for shooting her that I would slap you for her."

"B-But-"

Kendall cut him off again, this time with words. "She also said to say this. 'Tell Chase that I don't hold him responsible. None of the blame is his. It is Spellbinder's'."

It took Chase a moment for it to settle in. He had not been forgiven because there was nothing to be forgiven for. Angela just simply blamed Spellbinder, not him. He now had to know. "Do all of you feel the same way?" All of them confirmed so with nods and positive replies.

_If no one blames me for this, then I can't possibly blame myself either. It'll take some time but I can get past this. And for now on, I'll be more focused on things, especially when others are involved._

"Thanks everyone. Really."

They all smiled at him and gave him pats on the back. He was going to be alright. All of them were going to be alright.

"Okay, everyone. Upstairs. You all have the closing shift for the Cafe, since I called in the other workers to fill in for you." Kendall informed. "I'll be down here after closing should any of you need anything."

Even though they believed that they should get the rest of the day off, for defeating one of Sledge's goons, they didn't have the energy to argue their opinion. They headed upstairs to finish up the last couple hours that the cafe and museum would still be open.  

* * *

Sledge held Spellbinder's wanted poster in his hands. The printed opportunity was no longer a reality. "I could've gotten 20,000 space bullion for Spellbinder." He angrily crumbled the poster and threw it onto the ground. 'What a waste." He slammed his fists onto a random top of a container. The whole situation with Spellbinder was a waste. He had nothing to show for this.

"Wait."

Or did he?

Sledge looked over at Wrench, who was busy sorting out some scrap metal that had been salvaged by some Vivix while they were down on Earth. Among the garbage was something very familiar.

"Stop." Sledge barked the command at Wrench.

Wrench stopped immediately in his task.

Sledge reached into the scrap and pulled out Moana's pendant, still intact. "Maybe it's not a total loss."

"Could Spellbinder have survived?" Wrench asked.

"Doubt that, but I think there's still some magic left in it. Might come in handy someday." He tossed the pendant to Wrench. "Save it."

"Yes, Master Sledge."

* * *

The few hours had went by rather quickly for the Rangers. They locked the doors and began cleaning the cafe, working their way out into the museum. Moana, knowing that Chase would be alright by now, had entered the museum just before it closed and met up with Chase in the cafe.

"I'm sorry about all the trouble I caused you. I'm also sorry that I wasn't able to get the pendant back." Chase said very solemnly.

Moana also, in her own way, apologized as well. "From what you've told me, it sounds like the pendant was destroyed. That is better than it being in evil hands. Also, telling the future can be a messy business. It is always uncertain and changing."

"No worries. At least I proved to everybody that I can focus when I need to, eh?"

Moana nodded. They both hugged each other, settling the matter in a caring, friendly manner.

"Until we meet again." Moana smiled and left the cafe.

Chase watched her until she left his sight. The fact that Moana had been so forgiving, like everyone else had towards him, made him fully believe that he was even better off than he had been before. Not only did his friends believe he could focus when he needed to, he also complete believed it himself. Any doubt he might have had before was not there anymore.

A clipboard was placed in front of Chase's face. Koda held it up to him to show the duties that each of them had, especially Chase's. "Today, your day, uh...Focus, clean...museum floor."

Chase rolled his eyes. He hated cleaning the floor. But, he took the dust mop from Koda to accept the job.

It was quickly snatched from his grip by Shelby. "I'll do it. The last time he had floor duty, he left half-way through."

"Hey!" Chase reclaimed his mop from Shelby. "There was a rugby match." He picked up his leaning skateboard from the entrance of the cafe. "Don't worry, guys. I've got a plan. No more distractions."

He dropped his skateboard in front of him and picked up his headphones up from his neck, putting them on. His phone was still playing his playlist and it happened to be playing one of his favorite songs: Back in Black by AC/DC. No way he would get distracted by anything now. He rode off on his skateboard and dust mopped as he traveled on his board.  

Everyone was impressed to say the least.

"Looks like he definitely figured out one way to concentrate." Tyler said.

Everyone was smiling for their friend except for Shelby, who was looking down at the job clipboard in Koda's hands. "Wait a second." She took the clipboard from Koda. "Koda, it's your day to clean the floor."

Koda now had Tyler, Riley and Shelby's attention. "I..." He grabbed the clipboard back. "Maybe he need...concentrate on schedule, too."

All of them couldn't help but laugh at the fact that Koda had tricked Chase into going his job. Chase didn't mind. He was to focused on cleaning the floors as he rode on his skateboard and listened to a song that had a nice rhythm.


	6. The Tooth Hurts

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's a bit shorter than the last one. Feedback wold be amazing, since it also gives me motivation :D Enjoy!

 

Another dawn arrived in Amber Beach City. A light dew covered everything as people began to get into their daily routines. One of these people was a seventeen year old who was already in the habit of waking up at the crack of dawn. He had arrived at the Amber Beach Track and Field, that was located near the high school. It was open to the public whenever the school was not using it.

Riley spent his mornings here. He knew that a scheduled run and exercises at the track would help his body build more strength, increase in agility and lengthen his stamina. He would first stretch his muscles and then jog two laps around the track without picking up or slowing his pace. Next would be twenty crunches, followed by twenty push-ups.

By the time all those exercises were complete, Riley’s body would be exhausted and he would lie on the track for a few minutes. Once his energy returned, he would get up, gather his stuff and head off to the museum. Since he and his friends had a task from Kendall that pertained to the Gold Energem, Riley didn’t have to work the morning shift. He could easily squeeze in some practice with his Dino Saber and the tennis ball launcher that was in the base.

“Hopefully Angela would will be awake from her deep sleep. She might have some pointers for me with my Dino Saber. That and she has been asleep for two days now. The sooner she wakes up, the sooner we’ll all feel better.” Riley left for the base, hoping that Angela would be up and about. Practice, along with advice, went together.

Like frosting on a cake.

* * *

It was another normal day on Sledge’s ship for almost everyone, prisoners and passengers alike. However, for Poisandra, today would be her day for trying out several desserts prepared by one of Sledge’s bounties that went by the name of Cavity. By her command, Cavity had created many sweets, ranging from huge cakes to tiny cupcakes. Just looking at one of the desserts could easily give anyone a sugar rush.

“Let’s see what the chocolate’s like.” Poisandra dug her pink tasting spoon into a large chocolate cake that had way too much chocolate frosting.

Curio watched, wanting to join in on the taste testing. “I want a piece.”

The monster’s request went unheard as Poisandra squealed at the taste of the chocolate cake. “This cake dee-vine!”

“Excellent.” Cavity bowed his head slightly towards Poisandra. “It shall be your wedding cake.”

“Absolutely not!” Poisandra shoved all the deserts off the cart and into the trashcan right near it.

“Oh, yum,” was all Curio uttered before diving head first into the trashcan after the discarded treats.

Poisandra had a different approach to her perfect wedding cake. “I need a cake so awful, so disgusting, that the guests are sure to remember my wedding for a long, long time.” She giggled too herself for coming up the brilliant idea.

Cavity found the idea to be a bit backwards logically but didn’t dare argue to the fiancé of the one who imprisoned him in the first place. “As you desire. I shall return soon.”

*ten minutes later*

Cavity returned to Poisandra with a brand-new cake, that looked just as dense in sugar as the others had been. “My masterpiece. This beautiful cake is filled to the brim with decay.”

Poisandra hopped out of her seat. “You mean, tooth decay? As in a mouthful of unbearable pain?”

“That no one will ever forget.” Cavity confirmed.

“Setting prisoners free to bake your cakes? How dare you!” Fury trudged into the room, a bit annoyed that Poisandra had let one of his master’s prisoners free.

“This isn’t just any cake.” Poisandra spat back. “I’m picking out the perfect wedding cake.”

“It’s a waste of time.”’

“Oh Fury, don’t say that until you’ve tasted it.” Poisandra put a slice onto a plate and walked up to the warrior.

“Well,” Fury didn’t see a problem with the offer. “Maybe just a bite.” He picked up the slice with his claws for hands and ate it in one bite.

“So, what do you think?”

“Needs more vinegar.” Fury suggested. Other than that, he found it to be a rather decent cake…until an agonizing pain was suddenly felt in his mouth. “My teeth! What have you done, you pink Bridezilla?” Fury fell to his knees as the pain showed no signs of decreasing in intensity.

The door to the room slid open. It was Sledge’s turn to stomp into the room. “What’s going on here?”

Poisandra spun on her heels to face her husband to be. “Cavity baked me an evil cake, and Fury tried it.”

“Cavity!”

“Yes, sir? Sledge, sir?”

“Bake that cake for the Rangers and that blasted Jedi. Make them suffer, and then…” Sledge aimed and fired this arm canon, obliterating the cake that Poisandra had wanted. “…bring me the Energems. And if you can manage, bring the Jedi back alive. If you are forced, I will accept her dead body instead.”

“Yes, sir!”

* * *

Riley arrived at the museum and entered the base through the secret entrance. As he let his Energem fly into the charging station, he saw Chase was already here. He had his feet propped up on an unused counter of the lab.

“Hey.” Chase greeted.

“Hey.” Riley walked past Chase to see that Angela still asleep on the couch. “Oh man.”

“Yeah.” Chase kept his gaze on his phone as he spoke to Riley. “I was hoping she would be awake when I got here. Koda said he kept an eye on her in case she woke up during the night. He said in his own words, ‘She like rock. Didn’t move at all’. Too bad she didn’t tell Kendall how long she would be out.”

“I doubt Angela knew how long she would be asleep.” Riley walked by Chase again and pulled out the tennis ball shooter that he regularly used to practice deflecting with his Dino Saber. He set the timing for the shots and then summoned his Dino Saber.

Riley got into position. He held his Dino Saber backhanded in his right hand and focused all his attention at the shooter. The shooter fired the tennis balls at Riley. He deflected the first few without issue. As the pace of the shots sped up, Riley struggled to keep up and began cartwheeling and dodging several of the balls. He managed to flip back into the direct path of the shooter before it fired off three more balls. Unfortunately, Riley only deflected two of them as a sudden slurping noise behind him caused him to lose focus. He slipped on the floor slightly in an attempt to hit the last tennis ball, which failed to make contact with his Saber.

Riley turned around, a bit irritated that Chase was still loudly slurping on whatever carbonated drink was in his cup.

“Hello! Chase!” A tennis ball randomly fired form the shooter and grazed by Riley’s shoulder. He only gave it a side glance as he tried to yell past Chase’s headset. “Hey!”

Chase happened to see Riley talking to him out of his peripherals. He pulled his headset off and stopped sipping on his drink for a moment.

“I’m trying to focus here. You should know how hard that can be.”

Chase threw Riley a questionable look. “But, bro, you just keep practicing the same sword move over and over.”

“I have my reasons, okay?”

“Which are?”

Riley saw Chase motion with his hands, as if to say “well, what reasons?”. He would explain, hoping that it would help Chase understand. “Look, when Fury attacked me to get the Green Energem…I wasn’t able to keep up. That’s why I practice, so next time I’m ready.”

“That’s a good reason to want to practice.”

Both Chase and Riley look towards the voice they knew. Angela had finally woken up and was standing near them. She was slipping on her jacket, which had its Morpher-blasted hole patched by Kendall while she had slept.

Chase got up from his seat out of shock and Riley just stood there as he greeted her first. “Hey, you’re finally awake.”

“Finally? How long was I out?”

“Nearly two days.” Chase answered.

“Wow. That’s…longer than I would have guessed. Oh, Chase, did Kendall happen to slap you?”

“Yeah,” he rubbed the side of the face that had received the blow from Kendall. “Don’t worry. I quickly accepted what you said. Thanks.”

Angela smiled at him. “You’re welcome.”

“You completely healed from a direct hit in two days.” Riley was amazed at the feat. “That’s incredible.”

“From what I know it is.” Angela finished that conversation and started up the one Chase and Riley were having. “So, what’s this about you practicing, Riley?”

“Chase here doesn’t understand that practice makes perfect.”

Chase immediately had a response for that. “Well, Riley doesn’t understand that attacks aren’t always the same, even if it’s with the same enemy.”

“And?” Riley asked, more frustrated with every word Chase spoke.

“And if I was you, I’d use your instincts and adapt, so that you’re ready for any situation.”

“Okay. You, giving me training advice? Right. I’ve never seen you train. Not once.”

“Just because I don’t train the same way as you, doesn’t mean I don’t train.”

“Are you two done bickering?”

Chase and Riley slowly looked over at Angela, who they both forgot was awake and standing there. They don’t answer her and just wait for her to say her input. Surely, she would settle this and say who was right.

“From what I’ve seen out of both of you, you are both right.”

“What?” Chase asked, puzzled at her response.

“How?” Riley questioned the logic behind her answer.

Angela sighed at the both of them. “Riley, you learn best with repetition. Chase, you learn by trusting your gut. Hate to break it to you both but sometimes, there isn’t one simple answer for everyone. For example, the way I learned how to fight was by repetition, instinct-“ A tennis ball fired from the shooter. Angela caught it with her hand without taking her gaze off the two boys. “And listening constantly to the Force.”

Chase and Riley looked at each other, then back at Angela.

“Look,” Chase spoke up. “That may work for you, but you’re someone that can use the Force. You’re in your own league.”

“Oh?”

“I agree with Chase.” Riley added. “You may learn with all of those but for people like Chase and I, practice is key.”

“Instincts.” Chase corrected.

“Practice.”

“Instincts!”

“Practice!”

Chase was fed up arguing with Riley. He picked up his drink and skateboard and walked towards the base’s exit, letting out a frustrated sigh as he called his Energem from the charging station. “I’m going out.”

“Yeah, whatever.” Riley fired back.

Chase responded back with the loudest, most irritating slurping noise he could muster. Riley turned and shot him a glare before he was struck in the face with a flying tennis ball. His anger only grew from that coincidental strike.

Angela shook her head at the two of them. She knew it was going to be an interesting day between them. “I’m going to head upstairs and wait in the café for the others to get here.”

“Wait, don’t we have training or something today?”

Angela shook her head. “Why would we? I haven’t had time to make any since I was sleeping. Besides, you and Chase are already learning your next lesson.” She gave him a pat on the shoulder as she left the base.

Riley paused briefly. “Wait. What lesson?”

She didn’t answer. And she wasn’t going to. Both and Chase were going to learn this one the hard way.

* * *

Tyler, Shelby, Koda and Kendall soon made their way into the already open café. Kendall had messaged Riley and Chase to do the same. By the time the hotshot and genius got to the café, the others were already taking to Angela, asking the usual questions of “how are you”, “are you alright” and “are you sure you’re up for the task at hand, today”. She assured them that she was really okay and ready to help out with whatever Kendall had planned for the Rangers today.

Once Kendall gave everyone their job for the day, she left them to tend to other tasks around the museum. Shelby was dressed in jeans and a pink tank top, as she was just finishing up her short morning shift. The others had already gotten into their tan jumpsuits that they wore for digs that the museum would go on.

“Free cake samples, compliments of the chef.” The chef shouted from the kitchen.

Shelby sighed in annoyance as she turned to grab a tray of cake slices off the serving counter. Her annoyance faded slightly as she saw the cake was neatly cut and had purple icing overlaying a white and pink center. She found it to be kind of cute. Since her friends had found a place to lay out a plan at a table, she headed over with the treats.

Tyler and Koda were on one side of the table, Chase and Riley were on the other side and Angela sat on one of the ends. A map of the Amber Beach City area had been laid out before him.

“Kendall says we should check the southwest creek beds.” Tyler pointed to the creeks that were outlined on the map.

Riley spoke next. “Okay. We’re looking for Pterodactyl fossils. According to Keeper, that’s the dinosaur that bonded with the Gold Energem.”

Angela sighed. “That’s a lot of creek bed to cover. It doesn’t help that we don’t have a device that can scan for Energems.”

“We kind of do.” Koda answered.

“We do?” Chase asked.

“Yes. Angela can…feel Energems.”

Everyone laughed, except Koda. What Koda said wasn’t technically wrong but also not exactly what Angela was trying to get across.

“What…funny?”

“You not wrong, Koda. But I meant that it would be nice if something such as the Dino Coms could be used to scan for Energems. That way everyone would have one and cover more ground faster.”

“Oh.” Koda frowned but then smiled as he put it together. “That would be nice.”

Shelby walked up to the table carrying the tray of cake slices. “Free samples. Chef’s trying a new recipe.” She set the tray down on the table that had yet to be covered with the map.

“Awesome.” Tyler said with his usual, chipper attitude, taking a slice.  

Koda took his slice but stared a bit at the fork that accompanied it. He couldn’t remember specifically how to hold it but, on accident, managed to hold it right on his first try.

Chase took a slice for himself, treating it like another snack he would enjoy greatly. He was always snacking on things whenever he wasn’t busy with anything else.

Angela didn’t move for a slice. “Thanks for offering, Shelby. But, I never liked sweet treats. You can have mine if you want it.”

“Aw. Thanks Angela.” Shelby gave her a small hug, as best as she could since Angela was sitting in a chair.

“You’re welcome.” Angela didn’t fight the hug but also felt slightly uncomfortable receiving one. She wasn’t used to it.

Riley was about to reach over and grab his slice but stopped when he looked up and saw an unnerving event happening in the café. He instantly slapped Tyler’s slice of cake and the bite that was on his fork onto the table just in time.

Tyler looked down at the smashed cake then up at Riley. “The cake was a bit tasteless.”

“Nobody touch it.”

Everyone stopped in place. Koda pulled out his slice of cake out of his open mouth before he had even tasted it. “No cake?”

Angela knew Riley was on to something when she felt a slight disturbance in the Force. She too began to look around the café.

Chase was even more annoyed at Riley today. First, the situation in the base and now this. “Chill, bro. A little cake never hurt anyone.”

“Yeah?” Riley pointed to other people in the café. “Tell that to them.”

Everyone looked around to see that the customers had also received the free samples of the cake and were now in pain. They were holding the sides of their faces in their hands. It was as if all of them caught a contagious form of a toothache.

Chase instinctively looked into the kitchen and was met with a monstrous gaze. “Hey!”

All of them turned to see the monster in the kitchen just before he bolted out the backdoor. Tyler’s leader skills kicked in. “Chase, Riley, you guys take the front. We’ll go through the kitchen.”  

The team split up. As Chase and Riley left out the front, Tyler, Shelby, Koda, and Angela entered into the kitchen. They walked around the island and saw the real cook on the floor, tied up and gagged.

“Shelby, Koda, help him.” Tyler said. Koda and Shelby kneeled to help the cook.

“Angela. Try to catch up with Chase and Riley to help them. We’ll catch up as soon as we can.”

“Consider it done.” Angela rushed out the backdoor and ran to catch up with the Black and Green Rangers.

* * *

Chase and Riley were already running up a flight of stone stairs to catch up with the monster. When they reached the top, they saw the monsters some ways off in the distance.

“We got a visual.” Riley informed the others on their Dino Com and quickly put the device away. Both of them already had their Morphers out.

They spun the barrels in unison. “Energize. Unleash the power.” They ran into the power they shot from their Morphers and instantly changed into their Ranger forms, continuing the pursuit. Their Ranger form gave them a slight boost in speed. They were quickly closing the distance between themselves and the monster. They aimed their Morphers and began firing at it.

The monster heard the Rangers’ weapons fire and began to dodge as he continued running from them. “Out of the frying pan and into the firing zone!”

“We’re so closer.” Riley said.

Chase focused on a centered shot on the monster. “And we’re about to be closer.”

Both of them fired at the same time and both of their shots landed on the monster’s back at the same time. The monster screamed as it stumbled in its run. This was the Rangers’ chance. They front flipped over the monster and landed several yards in front of him, successfully cutting off his intended escape route.  

The first and most noteworthy thing both Riley and Chase noticed about their enemy was his teeth. They were as black as tar.

“Someone needs a dental plan.” Chase pointed out.

“I’m going to rot more than just your teeth. After all, my name Cavity means I can rot anything I please!” He fired two blasts of purple energy from his teeth.

Riley and Chase dodged out of the path of the shots, the attacks hitting the tree that was behind them. Both instantly saw the tree turning into the nasty black that Cavity’s teeth were.

“The tree’s decaying! This guy’s serious.” Riley looked over at Chase, hoping that Chase would take this matter more seriously than he did training.

“Don’t let him get away, you two.” Angela shouted as she ran towards Cavity with both lightsabers ignited in her hands.

Cavity turned around for a moment to see that it was the Jedi that Sledge had mentioned to him. Sledge told him to bring her back, preferably alive. But he also had two Rangers to deal with. He figured that he would call out his backup plan. “Vivix, attack!”

Angela was stopped in her tracks as a gang of twenty Vivix jumped into her path to Cavity. _Oh, how cliché._ It was like the Imperial stormtroopers again. The upside for Angela was that they weren’t unique in the Force. They weren’t actual living creatures with a conscious. They were made to be mindless soldiers. She found her center and used her sword techniques and Force skills to take them all on.   

Cavity wouldn’t have to worry about the Jedi for a few minutes. He turned back to face the Black and Green Rangers. “I’ll beat you two like eggs!”

Riley took out his Dino Saber and held it backhanded. “I can take him.”

Chase twirled his Morpher in his hand as he decided to let Riley go. “Be my guest. Let’s just hope he shoots tennis balls at you.”

“Is that supposed to be funny?” Riley’s tone was seeped in contempt as he turned his head to face Chase.

This was a free chance for Cavity. “Decay time!” He fired a shot from his teeth.

Riley quickly spun around and deflected the shot up into the sky with his Saber. Cavity was stunned but not surprised at the action. He immediately let several more shots fly at the Green Ranger, who once again blocked and deflected all the shots.

“Hold still.” Cavity shouted in frustration as kept shooting.

Riley continued to expertly parry all the attacks. The anger that had surged from Chase’s comment had been focused on Cavity and it was working to the Green Ranger’s advantage.

Cavity decided to switch it up and ran towards the Rangers. “Open wide. This is going to hurt!”

Riley got into a defensive stance, ready for the confrontation. Chase, however, walked up to him. “Nice job, Riley.” He shoved Riley out of Cavity’s path. Chase had decided it was his turn to fight Cavity on his own. “Now let me show you what my training can do.”

Riley ran up and roughly spun Chase to face him. “Stop goofing off. I had him.”

“Bickering babies.” Cavity relentlessly delivered a blow to each Ranger. It was enough to send both of them flying backwards and falling to the ground.  

As both of them struggled to find the strength to get up, Riley caught a glimpse of Angela defeating the last Vivix standing with a single slash of her lightsaber. “Angela!”

“Hold on, guys. I’m coming.” She ran past both Riley and Chase and focused her attack on Cavity.

“Not right now, Jedi. Next time.”

All it took was for Angela to blink once and Cavity had completely vanished from her sight. She sighed as she turned off her lightsabers. “That monster is crazy fast.” She sensed three more Energems and saw Tyler, Shelby and Koda morphed and running up to everyone else. “He got away, you guys.”

The three Rangers checked on Riley and Chase, who were slowly getting back up on their feet.  

“What happened, guys?” Tyler asked.

Are you okay, Riley?” Shelby asked out of concern. She was answered with a slight shove, which was out of anger he had towards someone else.

“Yeah.”

He stomped over to Chase, fully ready to say what he thought without any regrets. “You need to quit messing around. One of us could have gotten hurt. Or worse.” He would have said more but stopped himself. Riley was never one to go too far with words. Instead he walked away from everyone. He would head back to the base on his own.

Shelby shook her head at both of them. “Man! What’s going on with you two?”

“He just doesn’t get me.” Chase replied.

Silence fell between everyone after that. All of the remaining Rangers demorphed and Angela hid her lightsaber hilts back inside her inner jacket pockets. The base wasn’t far away from where they were, so they all didn’t rush the walk back. Tyler and Shelby walked side-by-side. Chase and Koda did the same. Angela was in the back, silently thinking to herself about the fights. The one with Chase and Riley and the one with Riley and his anger.

_I thought that those two would have learned to accept both of their fighting styles and use them together. I guess I’ll have to speak with Keeper. Hopefully he can get to them better than I can. But I’m more worried about Riley. The anger he had in him. He turned it from Chase and focused it all on Cavity. It did help him parry all the shots but what if he does it again? No. I’m going to talk to him about it before we have another fight with Cavity. I have to get him to see that fighting in anger can be dangerous._

* * *

Once everyone was back at the museum, the team split up into groups. Angela had gone into the base to talk with Keeper. Tyler, Shelby, Koda, and Chase were busy cleaning up the café, since Kendall had closed it down for the day. Kendall and Riley were gathering up the cake slices onto a single table to figure out what part of it caused the toothaches and figure out an antidote for it.

“These are the leftover pieces of the poisoned cake.” Kendall informed.

Riley nodded. “Okay. We need to record how much was eaten by each person, and then whether it was the cake or the frosting.”

“And hopefully come up with an antidote.”

Kendall and Riley together picked up three pieces of the leftover cake and sat them down at the bar.

“Alright. Victim number one.” Kendall readied her pen and clipboard that held a chart to write all the information down.

“Okay. Two cake bites, one frosting.”

“Victim number two.”

 “It looks like three cake bites and no frosting.”

Chase had started cleaning up in the kitchen and was now making his way through the seating area. With a red bucket in hand, he walked over to a table that had all the leftover cake slices.

 _Nice._ He held the bucket under the side of the table and pushed several of the cake slices into the red bucket.

“Wait!” The noise didn’t go unheard by Riley, who quickly ran over to the table. “Stop, stop! Just what are you doing?”

Chase was confused. “I’m cleaning up. That’s what I’m supposed to be doing, right?”

Riley’s frustration at Chase had returned tenfold. “No, not these. We need to figure out what’s going on first.”

“My instincts tell me that what’s going on is that if you eat the cake, you get a toothache.”

A spark of anger lit between them as their voices becoming louder and louder.

“It’s not that simple.”

“It is that simple.”

 “We need to analyze it first.”

“Oh, you always love to analyze things.”

“Yes.”

“Look.” Chase overturned the red bucket and slammed it down on the table, the trash and smooshed cake falling out onto the wooden surface. “Analyze that.”

Kendall had let the shouting match go on for long enough and intervened by walking between them. “Oh, enough!” Both of them snapped their focus on Kendall. “Both of you, out of here. And don’t come back until you sort this out.”

Chase was more than glad to leave. He dropped the bucket and walked over to the entrance. He picked up his helmet and skateboard on his way out. He started to ride on the board before he had even left the doorway of the café.

“Can’t skate in here!” Riley shouted at the now gone Chase. He then looked at Kendall, who was giving him her signature glare. The glare that told anyone who received it to become silent and immediately leave the area.

* * *

Riley had found his way down to the base. He was going to train some more with the tennis ball shooter. He set up the equipment, while Angela kept silent at the table that was off to one side of the base. She appeared to be writing more notes in her journal, so Riley decided to keep to himself and train without asking for any tips from her.

The tennis balls were soon flying and Riley was doing rather well. He was taking out his anger by doing this. It was going well. But then, he imagined Chase in his mind and deflected a tennis ball harder than he had the others. He was about to move his Saber up at an angle but when he went to do so, he couldn’t move it.

“Enough.”

He looked over to see Angela with her hand outstretched towards Riley’s Saber. Only when he loosened his grip on his Saber did Angela let go of it with the Force as well.

“Come sit down for a moment. We have to talk about this.”

Riley walked over and sat down at the table, laying his Saber on the table between them. Angela did the same with her notebook as she closed it.

When Riley truly looked over at Angela, he nearly flinched as he saw that Angela’s eyes weren’t blue but red. Kendall had already explained to everyone that she got them while she was healing herself but to actually see them personally, was rather unnerving for Riley. “Your eyes are red. I thought that only happened when you were healing yourself.”

“No. It’s just that they are usually red because I’m healing. However, they also turn red when there is an abundance of Dark Side energy near me and I’m not prepared enough to block it out.”

Riley was smart enough to catch it. “You felt my anger.”

“I felt your anger since early this morning, Riley. It was when you centered your anger and used it aggressively just now that it affected me.” Angela paused before continuing. “Riley, anger is a powerful emotion. But, it is also one of the most aggressive ones. Just one unfocused moment is all it takes for it to take control of you.”

“I think I get what you’re saying.”

“And what is that?”

“Don’t fight out of anger. Keep a clear mind.”

Angela thought on this for a moment. Riley’s answer threw her off her train of thought. “Well…yes. It’s better to keep your mind clear of emotions when fighting. It’s a way of fighting that I use and find it the least damaging to me and others. However, if you do fight with emotions, there is nothing wrong with that either. Just be sure that you don’t let your emotions completely control your actions. Sometimes, they are misplaced.”

Riley nodded. “Yeah. It makes sense when you put it that way.”

“Good.” She smiled over at him. Then, she closed her eyes, took a deep breath and let it out slowly. She opened her eyes again and they were back to their normal blue hue. She got up and put her notebook into one of her inside jacket pockets. “Well, I’m going to head out and see if I can help track down Cavity with the others.”

“Kendall already fixed your Dino Com?” Riley asked.

“Actually, she already had another one made.” She pulled out the Com to show Riley before putting it away. “Kendall also suggested that I should try to not let this one get damaged so quickly.”

“Uh well, in that case, may the Force be with you and your Com.”

“Thanks. I will see you later, Riley.”

“Later.”

Angela exited the base, but not before passing Keeper. She had talked to him earlier about the problem between Chase and Riley and he said he would talk to whichever one appeared to first. Luck had it out for Riley.

Keeper walked up behind Riley. He could tell that Riley was still frustrated. “What is on your mind, Riley?”

Riley turned in his seat to face Keeper. “Nothing’s on my mind. I’m just having an off day.”

“Hmm…” Keeper sat down next to the Green Ranger. “Quite off, I should say, for you to hide your true thoughts from me.”

Riley wasn’t going to keep this to himself anymore. “It’s Chase. He doesn’t take anything seriously.”

“Chase’s intentions appear to be as sincere as yours, yet you judge his approach?”

“It’s all a big joke to him. That monster’s on the loose, and where’s Chase? He goes skateboarding.”

Keeper sighed. “Things aren’t always as they appear.” He got up and picked up two tennis balls that were on the floor near him.

“Tell me this, Riley. Is it not possible…” He tossed one of the balls into the basket of the tennis ball shooter. A straight path.

Riley stood up instinctively as Keeper continued.

“…that two different paths can lead to the same destination?” He threw the other tennis ball at Riley, who ducked under it. The tennis ball bounced against several different walls and some of the metal beams in the base before it too landed in the basket like the first one had.

“Maybe you and Chase aren’t as different as you think.” Keeper walked over to pick up his staff and left Riley to be alone with his thoughts.

Riley put both Keeper’s words and Angela’s statement from earlier that morning together. _The lesson. Was Angela referring to Chase and I practicing differently? Maybe… Maybe she meant that in order to understand each other we will have to combine our different skills together._

* * *

Cavity had been met in an alley by Poisandra and her crafted friend Curio. The fiancé of Sledge was not happy that Cavity was still busy with her husband’s mission. She wanted Cavity back under her command as soon as possible. “As this rate, we’ll never get back to testing wedding cakes.”

“I don’t have time for your cake.” Cavity snapped back. “Not when there’s Rangers and a Jedi to destroy.”

Curio, in disappointment, sat down on a step. “Oh, sprinkles and frosting! I wanted cake!”   

“How dare you!” Poisandra stomped closer towards Cavity, intending to let all unladylike words fly from her mouth at the monster.

Cavity’s eyes flashed red at her. “My loyalty is to Sledge!”

“Well, I never!”

Cavity focused deeply on his anger and power. He became slightly taller, tainted in dark power and his aggressive attitude was intensified. “I have real work to do!”

 _What’s going on?_ Curio kept to himself and watched what would transpire.

What transpired was Cavity pushing past Poisandra.

“Out of the way, Pinky!”

 And quickly disappearing around the corner of a building. He was ready to finish his mission.

* * *

**_No alien bio-signs within this quadrant._ **

Both Shelby and Tyler looked at each other, both of them disappointed that Cavity was nowhere near them according to the scanners in their Coms. Koda had heard the voice from the Com and dropped down into the backseat of the jeep, from his perch in the tree. The sudden landing made Shelby jump and Tyler’s eyes to widen as he looked to see that Koda had landed perfectly in the back.

“I see no monster.” Koda said.

“Let’s search north-east.” Shelby suggested.

Tyler shifted his jeep out of park and drove towards the north-east.

Everyone’s Coms beeped and automatically opened the channel.

It was Angela. “My Com is not picking up anything in the south-east area. I’m heading for the east sector.”

“We read you.” Shelby answered back. “We’re heading for the north-east.”

“Roger.” Angela answered and closed her end of the Com.

* * *

Chase was riding his skateboard in the east part of Amber Beach City. He too was looking for Cavity. He had just decided to do it his own way. He had a pretty good idea where to look.

“If I was that rotten creep, I’d go where I could cause the most decay.” Chase thought that the business distinct, which was in the east sector, would be the target at this time of day.

Several people ran past him, some of them screaming at whatever they were running from. “I guess my gut was right.” As soon as he caught sight of Cavity, Chase hopped off his skateboard.

“This should bring the Rangers out!” The monster was quickly approaching his destination as he fired destructive, corrosive shots at several of the large skyscrapers around him.  

Chase wasn’t going to fight this one alone if he had the choice. He took out his Com. “Anybody there? I found our cake maker in the east sector of the city, and he’s rotting more than teeth. Better hurry.” As he put his Com away he saw Cavity run off in a different direction. He got back on his skateboard and rushed to catch up with him.

“Hold it right there, pastry face!”

Cavity grinned menacingly to himself as he stopped and turned to face the Ranger.

“I could smell your decay a mile away.” Chase expressed to Sledge’s goon.

“Just a mile?” Cavity had his first Ranger here. He figured he could just take out this one before the others would arrive and sprinted towards Chase.

Chase instantly took out his Morpher and fired a direct hit at Cavity, sending the monster tumbling back onto the concrete. He then pulled out a charger, stuck it into his Morpher and transformed into his Black Ranger form.

“Don’t mess with the hotshot.” Chase aimed his Morpher at Cavity yet again.

Cavity was ready to fight one-on-one. “It’s time your teeth matched your black suit.”

“I reckon that’ll be tough, mate. I floss.”

Cavity let several shots fire from his rotten teeth. Chase flipped and dodged all the shots. “You’re just too slow.”

“Impossible!”

Chase spun the barrel of the Morpher. _Gotta take out those teeth._ He ran up directly in front of Cavity, nearly shoved the Morpher into Cavity’s mouth and fired. The shot hit Cavity’s blackened teeth and ricocheted back, hitting Chase directly in the chest. The power from the shot caused Chase to fall backwards as he rested his hand on the spot where he got hit. Luckily, the suit took the damage and he was only feeling the forceful impact of the ricochet.

“These cavities aren’t going away that easily.” Cavity took advantage of the situation. He fired a shot from his rotten teeth, hitting the downed Ranger in the center of his chest.

Chase demorphed from his Ranger form as a toothache quickly set in.

“How does it feel, Ranger?”

Chase wasn’t going to answer the monster. He wasn’t going to give him the satisfaction. However, that didn’t make the pain any less intense. _My teeth!_

 _Just what Sledge ordered._ Cavity towered over Chase as he grinned sinisterly. “And now, the icing on the cake. Say goodbye, Black Ranger.”

“Excuse me.”

Cavity spun on his heels to see the Jedi once again. She was slowly walking towards him and Chase, both hilts of her lightsabers inactive in her hands.

“I believe you said that next time we met we would fight. It is next time, is it not?”

“I’ll deal with you after I kill this ranger first.” Cavity took his gaze of Angela.

That was a mistake.

Angela called upon the Force and threw Cavity towards her. He landed just off to her left but quickly rushed back onto his feet to avoid another surprise attack from her.

“I told you that I would fight you after I deal with the Black Ranger!”

“I’m impatient.” She switched on both of her lightsabers.

“Very well.” Cavity didn’t waste another second as he began attacking Angela.

She expected for him to immediately shoot out his decaying shots from his teeth. Instead, he opted for physical attacks with his whisk of a hand. While Angela kept up with his attacks by dodging and parrying, it didn’t matter. Every time Angela’s sabers slashed against Cavity they did no visual damage. The monster didn’t so much as flinch at the intensely-hot blades.

“Yield.” Angela insisted.

Cavity pushed Angela back a few feet. “Why? You’re already losing.”

Angela shot him a quizzical glare. “And how do you figure that?”

“How?” Cavity shouted back. “You’re already beginning to decay from the inside.”

Angela was done with this conversation. She didn’t want to hear another word. Something about it upset her because it was true. She knew it was true, even though she didn’t know how it was true. She lost control for just a moment. But a moment is all it takes for anything to change. She yelled as she channeled more Dark than Light side energy of the Force.  

She had let her emotions rule her and it was going to cost her in a way she was could have never expected.

She expected her strength to intensify as she channeled the Dark, her eyes turning from blue to red in the process. She anticipated the arcs of electricity to dance around her fingers. What she got instead was the sudden loss of consciousness. Angela’s lightsabers rolled out of her hands as she fell to the ground. She was unpredictably out of this fight.

“Angela! AH!” Chase yelled and was punished with a jolt of pain piercing through his teeth.

Cavity stood in place, a bit taken back at what had happened. “That was rather unexpected…and disappointing. I wanted to fight an actual Jedi.” Cavity shrugged and walked back over to the downed Black Ranger. “Oh well. Once I destroy you, Black Ranger, I’ll take both the Jedi and your Energem to Sledge personally.” He pulled his whisk of a right hand back. “Say goodbye Black Ranger.” He swung down.

His attack was halted by a Dino Saber, just mere inches from Chase’s face.

“Riley!”

Riley said nothing back to Chase, keeping his glare on the monster.

“Excellent.” Cavity spoke in a joyous yet sinister tone. “Another Ranger to destroy.”

Riley used all the strength in him to throw back Cavity’s whisk causing the monster to stumble back. Riley and Cavity kept attacking each other while Chase went for a single lower punch. As he hit Cavity though, another wave of pain shot through Chase’s mouth.

Riley shoved him out of the way of Cavity’s downward swing. “I’ve got him. Go.”

Chase knew what Riley meant by that and ran over to Angela. He nearly fell to his knees as he checked for a pulse. As he felt for a heartbeat he looked over Angela for any visible injuries. He didn’t see any. He did however feel a very faint pulse on her neck. “Angela. Can you hear me?”

Chase quickly looked over to see Riley and Cavity still going at it.

“If you hold still it’ll hurt less.” Cavity kept flutily swinging at Riley, who kept flipping and rolling away from all of Cavity’s attacks. Riley kept silence, which only angered the monster more. “Are you even listening?!” 

Chase put his focus back on Angela. “It would be really awesome if you could wake up now. We could…really-“ He trailed off as he saw both of Angela’s lightsabers laying on either side of her. His attention went to them as both of his hands seemed to have a mind of their own. Just as he was about to touch them, Angela’s hands moved and grabbed both of his wrists. Chase nearly jumped from his kneeling position.

“Not even when I’m knocked out.” Angela’s voice was just loud enough for Chase to understand. He was about to ask if she was alright but she cut him off. “Go help Riley as best you can. I just need a few moments to collect myself.”

“Alright. We’ll finish that creep off and come back to help you. Promise.”

Angela waved him off as she kept her eyes closed to the world around her. She heard him run off to fight beside Riley. She could also sense the others quickly approaching, due to them wearing their Energems. She could take a moment to meditate until all of her energy was back.    

The longer the fight between Riley and Chase had with Cavity, the more Chase’s toothache grew in intensity. His punches were getting weaker and he was soon doubled over from the pain. Riley stood in front of him, a barrier between him and the monster.

The sound of footsteps made Chase look behind him and see Tyler, Shelby and Koda running towards him, their Morphers out and aimed at Cavity. “Riley, duck!”  

Riley did so immediately, allowing Cavity to see three teenagers with Morphers aimed right at him.

“What?” That’s all Cavity could get out before the three Rangers fired at him. He tumbled backwards and landed hard on the concrete.

Riley put his Saber away as he checked on Chase, who was now on the ground as his pain was fading for the inevitable return. “You doing alright?”

“As alright as I can be.”

“Is Angela-“ Riley began to ask.

“She’s alright. She said she’ll be fine until we finish this creep.”

Riley nodded as he switched he topic of discussion. “I thought you were at the skate park.”

“Why would I be messing around when that ugly chef is still on the loose?”

Riley kicked himself for thinking that way about Chase. “Yeah, I guess you wouldn’t be.”

“Trust me, even though we do things differently, we fight for the same thing.”

Riley helped Chase too his feet. “I’m sorry. I thought that you were-“

“Forget it.” Chase cut him off. Not out of rudeness or not wanting to hear it. It was because the toothache was now becoming a constant pulsing through his teeth. “Let’s just destroy those rotten teeth of his.”

Tyler, along with Shelby and Koda, walked up to the others. “Good find, Chase. Now let’s destroy this chef.”

“It’s Morphin’ Time.” Riley took the lead as he went to stand beside his friends. “Dino Chargers!”

“Aaahhhh!” Chase held the right side of his face as his friends looked over at him.

“You okay?” Koda asked.

“Go.” Chase pushed the pain aside to grab his Charger.

“Ready!” They all shouted. “Energize! Unleash the power!” All of them transformed into their Ranger forms.

By this time Cavity had already collected himself and was standing to face the Rangers. “You’re all mine! I’ll rot all your teeth this time.”  

Tyler scoffed at the threat. “You’ll never beat our team, because it’s about to get wild!”

“Vivix!” The words of Cavity drew the Vivix out of their hiding places. “Destroy those Rangers!”

“Put a bite in these guys!” Tyler told his friends.

They all ran towards the Vivix as Chase fell to the back. He was fight two battles at once. One on the outside with his fighting skills. One on the inside with his pain receptors in his mouth.

Tyler was fighting rather smoothly with just his hand to hand skills.

Koda held his Morpher tightly. “Dino Morpher, Dino Saber, combine!” The two weapons did so. “Power blast!” A large, blue ball of power shot out of his Morpher and hit a Vivix, instantly vaporizing it and nearby Vivix in an explosive fireball.

Shelby was having success in using her feet to deliver knockout kicks to the Vivix one-by-one. “You can keep coming, but I’ll keep kicking!”

The Vivix that had surround Riley were armed with fully-functional circular saw blades. Not a problem for Riley and his Dino Saber. “Good try, monsters, but not good enough.”

Chase was dodging the Vivix that had surrounded him as well as firing shots whenever he was certain they would land on the targets. He was soon overrun thought as the pain was beginning to wear him down. Several Vivix quickly grabbed onto him and kept him from moving out of the path of one Vivix that had a saw blade. “Guys!”

Riley shot the Vivix with his Morpher in his left hand, while holding his Saber backhanded in his right. “I’m on it, Chase!” He cut through the Vivix that held onto his friend in seconds and took out the rest of the Vivix near them.

“Not bad.” Chase was relieved that Riley had saved him. “Now who’s the hotshot?” Had Riley not been wearing his Ranger helmet, Chase would have seen his friend smile at him.

“Just till you see a dentist.”

“Thanks, bro.”

After all the Vivix were destroyed, the Red, Pink and Blue Rangers stood next to each other. Maybe if three of them were to shoot at once they could do some serious damage.

“Focus the blast on his teeth!” Tyler told the others.

They all spun their Morpher’s barrel. “Energize!” Aimed. “Dino Morpher blast!” And fired. All three blasts hit Cavity’s blackened teeth and ricocheted back to hit the Rangers full force.  

 Riley and Chase ran and stood between their friends and Cavity.

“This doesn’t look good.” Riley said.

Chase shook his head. “The blasters aren’t strong enough.”  

“Who wants to be next?” Cavity asked rhetorically.

 _Something stronger than our Morpher Blasts._ It struck Riley. Maybe combining both his strong suit and Chase’s strong suit would turn out to be more powerful than just their weapons separated. “Let’s try your Para Charger in my Dino Saber.”

Chase took out one of his Chargers from the buckle of his belt. “Hm. Together, that just might work.” He handed it off to Riley.

“Yeah.” Riley took the Charger. “I’m adapting to the situation.”

Cavity just stood his ground. He waited to see what pathetic and failure of a move the two standing Rangers would attempt on him. Still, didn’t mean he had to do nothing. He prepared to fire more rotting blasts from his teeth. “This will only hurt a lot!”

Riley took Chase’s Charger and clicked it into his Dino Saber. **_Power Charger, engage!_** The Charger was accepted by the Saber. The blade of the Saber began to glow an intense yellow-orange from the power Chase’s Charger gave it.

Chase had been thinking to himself during the whole battle on how to knock out Cavity’s teeth. What could possibly powerful enough to shatter them. _Maybe…maybe his own attacks are his greatest weakness._ Chase looked at Riley, who was ready to charge towards Cavity. “Riley, he needs to try some of his own medicine.”

Riley caught the hint. “You got it.” He sprinted towards Cavity his Saber held backhanded in his right hand. Focus and timing were key here. He had both of those.

Cavity began firing his rotting shots at the Green Ranger. The sooner he took them all out, the sooner he could head back to the ship with all the Energems and the Jedi. Sledge would be so pleased with him that he would let him go without a second thought. Much to Cavity’s dismay, the Green Ranger deflected all of the shots and was still quickly approaching him. He fired three more shots at Ranger. The Green Ranger deflected two of them. The third he struck back at Cavity, the blast hitting him in his teeth. While shocked, he wasn’t too worried about it. His teeth were indestructible.

Riley had hoped Cavity’s own shot had weakened his teeth just enough. “Here’s a taste of Green and Black!” He pulled his arm back and took aim. “Power slash!” He threw the energy off his Saber blade.

The energy hit Cavity’s mouth full force, causing the area around his face to be engulfed in an explosion. He felt as if his teeth had loosened just a bit. As the smoke from the explosion cleared, he was met with the Green Ranger delivering two more strikes to his mouth.

“Gotcha.” Riley rolled off to the side before Cavity had a chance to strike at him.

Cavity felt emptiness in his mouth. His teeth had been obliterated. “My teeth! My beautiful teeth!”

“Nice!” Tyler commented.

“Yeah!” Shelby cheered.

“Now it’s your turn for a new combo, Chase!” Riley took out one of his fully powered Dino Chargers and tossed it to Chase.

He caught it with ease. “Sweet, bro.” He placed the Charger into his Morpher, locking it into place. **_Raptor Charger, engage!_**  

“Go, Chase!” Koda cheered on.

Chase fought back the ever-intensifying pain in his teeth as he aimed his Morpher. “Energize!” He spun the barrel of the Morpher.

 _This doesn’t look good!_ Cavity commented to himself.

“Dino Morpher Blast, final strike.” Chase pulled the trigger. Both his energy and Riley’s energy from their chargers exited the barrels of the Morpher.

The energy twisted together in the air and came together just as it hit its target. It was as if Cavity felt the bite of two dinosaurs simultaneously. His energy, his thoughts, all began to leave him as did his lifeforce. He became vaporized in an explosive ball of intense heat and energy.

Cavity was gone.

Riley walked over to his friends, rather proud that combining his and Chase’s unique strengths were enough to defeat Cavity. “Now, that’s a hotshot.”

“Good on ya, mate.”

“That definitely isn’t something you can train for.”

Chase laughed then remembered his promise. “Angela.”

All of them ran over to her. By this point she had managed to sit upright, sitting cross-legged and resting her head in both of her hands while staring down at the ground. She still heard all the Rangers running over to them.

“How are you doing, Angela?” Riley was the first to ask the question.

“Alright. I’ll be able to stand. I just need another minute or two.”

“Angela, why did you pass out like that?” Chase questioned.

Tyler, Shelby and Koda were shocked but kept it to themselves, knowing that Angela would explain it.

Angela slowly pushed herself off the ground, with Tyler and Koda’s help. She had gained her blue eyes back again, while still having her blonde and black strands of hair.

“I’m not sure. Something about what he said, about me already being rotten, got to me. I also thought that maybe Cavity would be sensitive to electricity so I decided to go for it and focused on the Dark Side more than the Light. Before I for the lighrning, I passed out.”

“Maybe you try too hard.” Koda suggested.

“Maybe.” Angela noticed an all-too-familiar beam descend from beyond Earth’s atmosphere. “Prepare yourselves, everyone.”

They all turned around just in time to see a revived and nearly two-hundred-foot-tall Cavity tower over all the buildings around him. “It’s not over yet, Rangers.”

“The rotten teeth are back.” Koda informed them.

Cavity gazed down at the tiny Rangers. “Destroying you is going to make my smile even brighter.”  

Angela looked at each of the Rangers. “I’ll keep an eye out for any surprise attacks and warn you accordingly. May the Force be with all of you.”

“Thanks, Angela” Tyler kept his eyes on the enemy. The only way forward was up. “We need the Dino Charge Megazord! Dino Chargers!” He, along with Shelby and Koda took out their Chargers and tossed them so they could go into their Zords.

 ** _Dino Chargers, engage!_** They did so and went into the Rangers’ Zords. **_Zords combine!_** They heeded the command and came together as one, forming the Megazord. **_Dino Charge Megazord, ready!_** The Red, Pink and Blue Rangers were teleported into the Megazord, ready to fight Cavity once more.

Cavity scoffed at the Megazord. “This’ll be a piece of cake.”

The Megazord roared at Cavity in defiance at his words. Even the Megazord as fed up with this monster’s interference.

“Rangers, battle mode!” Tyler commanded. They all placed their Morphers into their consoles. “Time for a major tooth extraction.”

Cavity fired several fireballs from his left hand, which resembled a professional frosting dispenser. The fireballs had no effect, since the Stego Shield of the Megazord deflected them all and them rammed quickly into Cavity’s face.

The Rangers hoped the shield would have knocked his teeth out. But, they were still sitting in the monster’s mouth.

“This creep’s teeth are even more powerful now!” Tyler said.

Cavity laughed at the failed attack. “Pathetic!”

Chase, Riley and Angela watched as the Megazord and Cavity were locked in battle.

“That is one tough cavity.” Chase said.

Riley couldn’t stand it. “We need to get in there and help.”

“I’ve got an idea.” Chase spoke his mind. “If we knock him back.”

“We’ll have an opening to get into the cockpit of the Megazord.” Riley had thought along the same line.

“Nice thinking, you two.” Angela was proud of them. They had overcome their differences and were working together.        

The Megazord was taking a beating from Cavity while the Megazord hadn’t put a dent in the monster. Chase’s voice comes over the speakers in the cockpit. “Tyler, how about using the Dino Blaze Charger?”

“Great idea.”

“Deep-fry that chef, and we’ll come help.”

Tyler pulled out the Charger. “Let’s turn up the heat.” He clicked and tossed the Charger. It found its way into the T-Rex Zord that was formed in the Megazord.

The three Rangers motioned and shouted in unison. “Dino Charge Megazord Flame thrower!” The fire shot out of the mouth of the T-Rex Zord. All Cavity could do was back up several yards to get out of reach of the intense flames.

Both Riley and Chase teleported into the Megazord to join their Ranger friends. They were all together now. They were going to win this fight.

“Let’s see how he handles all five of us.” Tyler said as he threw his fists up in the air. He was fully confident now that all of them were there. “Yeah!”

As all of them placed their hands on their consoles, Koda’s Zord communicated to him. “Stego.” His Zord friend told him he could do something new that would help them out this time. Koda accepted the offer. “Ready for action. We do this together.”   

Tyler couldn’t have agreed more. “You said it. All five, ready!”

“Ready!”

The Megazord activated a new weapon. **_Dino Charge Megazord, Stego Saber!_** A shield with a sword formed in the middle of it. Perfect.

Tyler, along with the others, already had his Saber out, ready to swing the Megazord’s Stego Saber. “You’re going down!”

“Stego Saber!” They all moved their blades in one accord. The strikes from the Stego Saber landed on Cavity without yield.

“Don’t knock my fillings out!” Cavity kept receiving slash after slash from the Megazord’s new weapon. It was putting major damage on him.

“That’s the plan.” Tyler shouted back at the monster. The Rangers moved their blades and managed to land a blow on Cavity’s teeth with the Stego Saber. Cavity’s blackened teeth were obliterated for the final time.

“Not again! I’ll need false teeth!”

“Ain’t that the tooth.” Tyler smiled to himself at the clever pun. Had his friends’ faces not been hiding behind their helmets, he would have seen all of them cringe slightly at his joke.

“Stego Zord!” They all swung the blade of the Stego Saber in a perfect circle. “Final slash!” They swung the weapon’s blade down across cavity’s chest.

Cavity didn’t say a single word as he left the realm of the living in a ball of fire. He was finally gone for good.

“Extraction complete.” Tyler claimed victory.

The Rangers sighed in relief. “Monster extinct.” 

Riley looked over at Chase on the other side of the cockpit. “Nice going, hotshot.”

“You too, bro.”

On the ground below, Angela could sense the Rangers’ joy and relief that the battle was over. She could also feel that the battle for Chase’s and Riley’s friendship was settled as well. They had realized their differences and had accepted them for what they were.

She took her Dino Com out of her jacket. “Good job, everyone.”

“Thanks, Angela.” Tyler answered back.

“We’ll be back down there in a minute.” Shelby added.

Angela smiled to herself. “Take your time. I’ll be here.”

Now, she had time to think out loud about what had happened with her flux in power, before the others would get back down to her.

“I wonder why I passed out. I didn’t the last time I channeled the Dark.” She slid the Dino Com back into her jacket, knowing she wouldn’t need it anytime soon. She thought about the whole situation up until she passed out and remembered that she had felt something different. It felt similar, if not the same, to what she felt when Spellbinder attempted to control her through the magic of the pendant, that he had stolen from Moana. “It’s not the Force. If it was, I would have formed and shot lightning at Cavity without a problem. Whatever this power is within me stopped Spellbinder’s attack but it also stopped me from focusing fully on the Dark Side.”

A sliver of fear for the unknown power within her kept to being a sliver. Sure, she did not know what it is, its range of influence, what it meant for her, but Angela would continue keeping it to herself. “I won’t tell the Rangers this, not until it’ll affect them. They have their own worries. I have mine.” She looked up as the Megazord disconnected and the Zords left to go back to their hiding places. “My problems are my own.”       

* * *

While the Rangers and the “Jedi” celebrated victory, the crew on Sledge’s ship was in low spirits; Sledge was more pissed off than he normally was and Poisandra was in tears.

“That half-baked chef couldn’t bring back a single Energem or the Jedi!” Sledge grumbled loudly enough for everyone around him to hear his anger.

Poisandra threw her frustration at her husband-to-be. “I don’t care about the Energems! I want to personally destroy those Rangers and that “Je’daii” so we can finally get out of here and have our wedding!” She continued her anger-filled thoughts as she knelt on the floor of the ship. She was already beginning to scheme about how to take them out.

Fury rolled his eyes. “A heart-shaped whiner’s not going to take down the Rangers and that Force-wielding freak.”

“And who are you to talk?” Sledge fired back at his second-in-command. “You’ve defeated the exact same number of Rangers as she has…zero!” He shoved Fury out of his path and left the room while mumbling to himself. “Useless monsters!”   

Poisandra took one look at Fury and her mood was more upbeat. “Oh!” She skipped after her future husband but stopped halfway out the door. “I think you hurt kitty’s feelings.” She turned back to Fury. “Better kiss it and make it better.” She blew him a bittersweet, magic-filled heart shape kiss.

It travelled across the room towards Fury’ backside. He, however, knew it was coming and took his sword to it, slicing it in half so that it dissipated away.

“Don’t test me, candy cane!

* * *

Another morning. Another exercise session for Riley. He had a lot of thoughts running through his head this morning. Once he was at the track and doing his warm-up stretches he began to think about everything that had happened yesterday. He thought about two things in particular: Chase and Angela.

His first thought process was on Angela, since it was one of the last things on his mind as he fell asleep yesterday. She had retold everything that she had done to all of the Rangers after Cavity had been defeated, since she was the first one to get to Chase and attempted to fight Cavity. She told them that she tried to channel the Dark Side, believing that if she could hit Cavity with lightning that he would hurt him enough to at least slow him down. However, her body couldn’t take that much power. She had thought she had healed from the Morpher blast that had hit her several days ago. She overexerted herself. Most of them accepted Angela’s statement as what really happened. Riley wanted to accept all of it but some things about it were off.

 _What Angela said seems truthful. But, my gut says otherwise._ Riley chuckled to himself. _My instincts. Chase had been just as right as I was, in terms of strategy. Chase… When I see him today, I’m going to talk to him about it._

Riley noticed that his left shoelace was slightly loose. Still sitting on the bench, he leaned over to tie it tighter. As he finished and looked back up, he saw Chase riding towards him on his skateboard. He hopped off, propped the board up against the bench and sat down next to Riley.

“Hey.” Riley greeted him with a smile.

Chase smiled back. “Thought I might join you for a run.” He focused his attention to putting on the running shoes he had brought with him.

“Really?” Riley was thrown for a loop. Chase was usually the last person to show up for Angela’s training in the morning. Getting up even earlier to run with him? It went against logic.

It finally clicked with Riley.

“Chase, I own you an apology. When I was growing up on my family’s ranch, everyone used to make assumptions about me, and they were mostly wrong ones. I was totally wrong about you, Chase, and I’m sorry.”

Chase had just finished putting on his running shoes. He looked over at Riley to see him looking directly at him. He quickly pulled out his earbuds. “Did you say something?”

Riley let out a cheery sigh and gave Chase a friendly pat on his shoulder. “No. It was nothing. Never mind.”

Riley heard several pairs of footsteps behind him and stood up to turn and face them. Chase did the same. The two were greeted with the sight of Shelby, Tyler, Koda and Angela. All three Rangers had tank tops with their Ranger colors. Tyler and Koda wore shorts that went above their knees. Shelby had black jogging pants, instead of shorts. Angela was wearing her usual attire, except for her denim jacket. She instead had her jeans and white, long-sleeved shirt on, the sleeves being rolled up past her elbows.

“Hey.” Riley said.

“Hey.” Tyler repeated back. “I forgot to mention this yesterday, but you were pretty awesome against Cavity.”

“So,” Shelby continued. “We figured maybe we should train with you.”

Koda spoke up. “Angela said…this our training this morning.”

“I did.” Angela agreed. “It’s all yours, Riley. Lead out however you want.”

Riley nodded to her. “Great.” He already knew how to do this. “Well, the first rule, is no rules.”

Chase’s complacent attitude disappeared instantly as he gave Riley a questionable stare. Riley was one to stick the rules. Always. Hearing his friend say “no rules” was a miracle in itself. “Seriously?” Riley shrugged but kept a smirk on his face. Chase then figured it out.

_He…he gets it. He gets how I am. How I do things. Now, it’s my turn to show him that I understand him too._

“Well, in that case, I’ll ride. This is a personal rule I’m going to stick to.”

“All right.” Riley answered, giving Chase a friendly fist bump on his chest.

Koda was confused about the situation. “So no rules. How can that be rule?”

Riley cleared it up for the caveman. “Just use your instincts and adapt to whatever happens.”

Once again, Chase threw Riley a confused look. He couldn’t believe his ears yet again. “Adapt? This could be dangerous.”

“Just see if you can keep up, hotshot.”

Riley gave everyone a demonstration of what he personally considered to be his instincts and his ability to adapt. He ran and flipped over a bench with ease, looking back at his friends who all had excited grins on their faces.

All of them followed Riley. They had their own idea of moves and tricks to do while following their friend. Whether they would use their muscles, brain, power or skateboard, they were all united that morning in their training session.

Their team was stronger than it had ever been before.


End file.
